


Step by Step, We'll Get There

by SasuNarufan13



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Drama, Dubious consent between Theo and Stiles, Everyone can shape shift, Fox!Stiles, Hurt!Stiles, Lemon, M/M, Mpreg, Non-Consensual Kissing, Omega!Stiles, Panic Attack, Scheming Erica, Sheriff's name is John, Slash, Stiles' POV, Violence, birthday fic, description of dead bodies, non-con elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-16 21:24:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 87,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14819144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SasuNarufan13/pseuds/SasuNarufan13
Summary: Stiles attends the Fertility Run for the first time and he hopes - really wants - Derek will be the one to catch him. That's the plan. One Theo Raeken, however, wasn't part of that plan.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: This first chapter gave me more trouble to finish than I anticipated at first *sweatdrops* My first Teen Wolf fic, so I hope I won't do too badly! 
> 
> This fic is dedicated to Hikory, because it's her birthday today! Happy birthday!
> 
> Warnings will be put in every chapter. If I forget a particular warning that should be added, please let me know.
> 
> Warnings: Slash; a bit of drama; A/B/O dynamics; Omega!Stiles. It starts out as Theo/Stiles, but will end with Derek/Stiles, I promise :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> Dedicated to: Hikory
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 1_

The sound of the school bell ringing shrilly through the corridors, echoing in the classrooms, was like music in the ears of every student – and perhaps in those of the teachers as well as they were all too eager to release the students in the hands of the sweet freedom they craved.

"You got time to go to Millie's?" Scott asked cheerfully, stashing his notebook and pencase into his bag carelessly.

"Yeah, dad's still busy with organising the Run; said he'd be home late," Stiles replied, swinging his own bag over his shoulder.

"Oh, that's right," Scott remembered and his face lit up with excitement as he bumped Stiles' shoulder with his. "You're going to join this year, right?"

"Yeah, as is tradition for every non mated eighteen year old," Stiles answered dryly. Even as the words left his mouth, though, his stomach did a funny flip and he swallowed, tightening his grip around the strap of his bag. "We can't be all so lucky as to find our mate before we're eighteen, you know."

Instantly a goofy smile appeared on his friend's face as his thoughts obviously drifted towards the girl he could call his mate for four months so far. Naturally the mention of her had him going on a tangent, informing Stiles about what they had done during their latest date, down to the smallest detail like how the sun had cast a pretty sheen in Kira's hair and _did you know how beautiful her eyes glitter when she laughs?_

Yes, yes, as a matter of fact Stiles did know that – not out of any interest of his own, but because his best friend simply couldn't shut up about his girlfriend and was wont to repeat things he had said multiple times before already. But being the good friend he was, Stiles suffered through the long, way too detailed description of Scott's date with Kira last week – again, he might add – all the way up to Millie's, heroically resisting the urge to cram one of the empty candy wrappers into Scott's mouth.

He loved the dude, he really did, but his one track mind when it came to his girlfriend could be pretty annoying at times.

The Beta finally ran out of steam when they were half way through their hamburger and milkshake. Stiles was actually fairly impressed that Scott had been able to talk about his date for so long – especially considering the date had only consisted out of a picknick at the park. The amount of detail Scott could put into his stories when it concerned Kira was just astonishing, really.

"So," Scott said and the sudden switch from excited to nervous had Stiles staring at him curiously.

"So, what?" Stiles prompted when it didn't look like the other boy would continue any time soon.

Twirling his straw between his fingers, Scott glanced around quickly before lowering his voice and asking, "You feeling ready for the Run?" He was speaking hushed as if the term on its own was like a hideous curse word that would bring down the wrath of Margarethe, the owner of Millie's, if she caught wind of it.

Stiles snorted. "Not like I have much of a choice, right?"

Every non mated person was obligated to join the Fertility Run if they had turned eighteen before it occurred. You were allowed to skip a Run afterwards, but the first one was obligated – whether you wanted to or not.

The Fertility Run was one of the few old traditions which had still survived until this day. It was rather archaic – and discriminating towards Omega – but it was one of those customs people kept clinging on to, no matter how many years passed by.

In spite of Stiles' flippant tone, Scott was still looking quite worried. "What if you get caught by someone you don't want?"

And _that_ was the main reason why the outdated custom should have been buried into the history books already. Stiles breathed out slowly, his grip tightening a tad around his hamburger; some sauce was squeezed out, dripping onto the crinkly wrapper.

As an Omega himself, he was going to be the one who got caught and not doing any catching – and choosing – of his own. Whoever was quicker than him, whoever managed to outsmart him, had won the right to become his mate, whether he liked that person or not.

Even in this modern age, people still thought it was normal to become the mate of someone you might not even like, purely because they had been the one to catch you. There had been campaigns, rallies, to stop this particular part and give the choice to all three Classes instead of only two, but so far the protesters hadn't had much luck. The only demand they had been able to enforce so far was –

"I'll only have to stick it out with that person for six months and then I'll be gone," Stiles said, taking a bite out of his hamburger.

Couples which were formed during the Run had six months to get to know each other and decide whether they were the right fit or not. After those six months, they would have an appointment with the Council to inform them of their decision. Both had to be on board or the mating would be annulled. It didn't matter whether one of them still wanted to give it a shot – it was all or nothing. Either they both wanted to continue the relationship or their bond would be dissolved, leaving them free to find someone else.

That particular rule, that safety net, was the only reason Stiles hadn't considered making a run for it and leave the town before the Fertility Run would start. Well that and he didn't want to leave his dad behind.

"Oh yeah." Relief flashed in deep brown eyes and Scott grinned. "I had forgotten about that! That six month rule is great! At least you won't be stuck with a jerk forever."

"Or a bitch," Stiles added dryly. He had discovered some time ago that he swung both ways, so the gender of whoever caught him wouldn't be that big of a deal.

What did matter was whether or not he could grow to like them.

"Soooo," Scott drawled, leaning forwards, just barely avoiding smashing his elbow into his cheeseburger. There was mischief glinting in his eyes and his grin widened. "You got your eyes on someone?"

"What, like who I'd want to catch me?" Stiles shook his head and slurped loudly from his chocolate milkshake. "Nah man, nobody."

Scott deflated slightly. "What, really? Most people have someone they want to catch them."

"If I had, you'd be the first one to know it, buddy. I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut," Stiles told him cheerfully.

"That's true," Scott snickered. "I still remember you making all sorts of plans for Lydia Martin and - "

"Hey, we do not talk about that!" Stiles cried out, ignoring the foul look of a mother two tables down, and kicked him underneath the table. "Rule number one of our friendship: we do not hold each other's stupidity over crushes over each other's heads!"

"I thought rule number one was to always have each other's backs, even if that meant pissing off our parents," Scott retorted confused, tilting his head to the right.

The Omega waved his hand, nearly smacking his friend in the face with his half demolished burger. "They, like, share the same place, okay? They're that important, so don't forget them!"

"All right, I won't forget," Scott laughed, holding up his hands. Then he sobered up and dragged his milkshake closer to him. "Just be careful, okay? You're my best friend and I don't want you to get hurt."

Affection for his best friend made his chest warm and he patted Scott's hand. For all that he could jabber on about his girlfriend, he was still there for him and Stiles knew he could count on him.

"I'll be fine," he promised and Scott brightened again, looking like a happy puppy.

Stiles was just glad Scott hadn't been paying enough attention to him to catch the way his heart had skipped a beat just now.

* * *

Okay, so when Scott had asked him whether he was interested in somebody – he had lied. And he would feel guilty about it, except it was just a little white lie and actually, could it really be considered a lie when he just didn't want to make his friend even more worried than he already was?

So he had fudged the truth a little bit, who cared? It wasn't the first time he had told a little white lie to his friend – and it wasn't his fault Scott still so easily believed him, despite having to know better after being friends with him for years.

All right, yeah, so maybe that did make him a bit of a jerk, but he never claimed to be an entirely good person.

Who he couldn't fool, though, no matter how many times he tried – and boy, had he tried a lot throughout the years! – was his dad.

His dad, who was watching Stiles put down a plate with lasagne on the table with too much focus for the boy to be completely comfortable.

"Hey dad, you're home earlier than I thought," Stiles said casually, filling a glass with water and putting that in front of the Sheriff.

Dad sank down in the chair with a sigh, rolling his shoulders and making them crack. "Yeah, we got a bit more help, so we were able to finish up things sooner," he replied, taking a bite from his late dinner.

"So everything's ready, huh? Nothing else to be done?" Stiles asked, dropping down in the other chair with a soda.

"No, now it's just waiting for Sunday for Talia to open the ceremony," Dad said, referring to the major, Talia Hale.

"Sounds good, you're on shift tomorrow?" Would it be too childish to admit he wanted to spend his last day before the Run with his dad? There was always a chance nobody would choose him, of course, but one never knew, and he wanted to spend time with his dad before he would be forced to deal with whoever ended up being his mate.

"No, Parrish is in charge tomorrow. I'm taking a break from the double shifts."

"That's good – you need your rest, old man. You're not as young anymore," Stiles teased him, opening his can of soda. It cracked open with a sharp hiss and the liquid fizzled on his tongue when he took a sip.

Ignoring the jab, dad said nonchalantly, "So I ran into Derek Hale today. Seems like he's been back in town for a couple of days now."

The second sip he took ended up in the wrong pipe and he coughed violently, the soda pricking his throat, as he pushed his can away and slammed his chest. Dad watched him leisurely, eating his lasagne, as if his only son wasn't choking on a stupid sip of soda.

Eyes watering, he brought out in a scratchy voice, "Is – is that so? Guess the mayor is happy, huh?" He coughed again, rubbing over his chest and wiping away some stray tears. He was out of breath as if he had just run up and down the stairs a couple of times instead of choking a bit.

"Yeah, she's definitely happy to have him back. How long has it been? Two, three years?" Dad mused, sipping of his water. "He grew up quite handsome. He was giving us a hand today, which is why the work was done sooner. Apparently he doesn't have a mate."

"He doesn't? What a shame," Stiles commented weakly, sinking a bit deeper into his chair and pressing the can against his mouth. He didn't make a move to drink again, though, worried he'd end up choking again, considering the topic dad was suddenly so eager to discuss.

"Yeah, said he was joining the Fertility Run this year too," Dad continued airily. "I think he only participated once before leaving, right?"

Stiles offered a non-committal noise, deciding it was best to keep quiet now before he said something stupid.

When dad looked at him next, his gaze was calculative and the sharpness in it had Stiles freezing up, feeling like a bug pinned down. His dad had the uncanny ability to make him feel like a criminal every time he looked at him like that and it made Stiles want to apologise for things he wasn't sure he had done.

"I actually had an interesting conversation with Derek while we were setting up the stand for the Council," Dad remarked, scraping the last bit of lasagne off his plate.

"Really?" Stiles' mouth was oddly dry all of a sudden and he dared to drink his soda. The drink prickled his sensitive throat, but that was nothing compared to the way his stomach flipped when dad's face darkened slightly.

"Yeah, told me to say hello to you on his behalf."

"That's polite of him," Stiles commented, slightly strangled.

Dad kept staring at him until he squirmed and he released a sigh. "You do realise my men have been patrolling the whole town for the past two weeks, right? Every nook and cranny, Stiles. There were more patrols than usual."

"Yeah, I know. They're doing a great job, they should get a raise or something." Stiles offered him a thumb's up, ignoring the way his heart was racing like he was running a marathon.

"And you know they report to me about _everything_ out of the ordinary they notice."

There was an unnecessary emphasis on the word 'everything' if you asked Stiles.

Dad crossed his arms. "For example, something out of the ordinary would be spotting a blue jeep parked next to a black Camaro," he said idly.

"While that may be out of the ordinary, it could just be coincidence," Stiles squeaked and yeah, there was no way to hide the way his heart blipped at that.

Dad squinted at him, looking decidedly unimpressed. "So it's just coincidence that days after some officers saw you talking to Derek, he tells me to say hello to you?" he asked sceptically.

"Talia raised her boy to be polite!"

"I'm sure she did. So when were you going to tell me you're interested in the Hale boy?" Dad raised an eyebrow.

Stiles waved his hands wildly, shaking his head in quick denial. "Who says I'm interested in him?" he spluttered in protest. "Can't I just talk to a guy without being interested in him? That feels, I don't know, kind of sexist, dad, and you should - "

"Because if you are, wouldn't it be easier to ask him out, so that you don't have to attend the Run?" Dad said louder, drowning out his son's protests.

"What? Pssht, no, nobody is asking anyone out, because nobody is interested in anyone!" Stiles argued, his cheeks progressively heating up until he was sure he resembled a tomato. Damn his pale skin for betraying him.

"So you're not secretly hoping that he's going to catch you Sunday?" Dad asked knowingly.

"Of course not, that would be ridiculous," Stiles scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Even so, don't get your hopes up, son," Dad sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"That kind of sounds like you think he's out of my league or something," Stiles complained, flushing with embarrassment.

"Nobody is out of your league, son," Dad instantly denied and the younger man looked away with a weak smile, both pleased and wanting to protest that statement.

"But the Run is unpredictable and you never know who ends up finding you," Dad continued. "If that ends up being Derek, great, I'm happy for you, kid, but it's also possible that someone else finds you first, so I don't want you to pin your hopes too much on one person, all right?"

"I know, dad, I'm not stupid," Stiles murmured, picking at a loose thread in his sleeve.

"I know you're not. Just promise me one thing, okay?"

Bemused Stiles looked up, staring straight into the solemn eyes of the Sheriff. "What?"

"If whoever finds you, mistreats you, you have to let me know at once."

"But the six month rule - "

"I don't care about that rule, Stiles," Dad said sharply and the younger man shut his mouth with a click. "I care about seeing you happy and if someone lays their hand on you in the wrong way, they're going to wish they didn't. So promise me: at the first sign they're stepping out of line, you let me know and I take care of it, okay."

"I can take care of myself you know," Stiles pointed out, but he couldn't help but feel warm at knowing he still had his dad's protection, even after becoming an adult.

"I know you can. So you'll give them hell first and then I'll finish it," Dad stated and stood up, walking around the table to his son.

Stiles rose up, stepping into dad's embrace automatically, and hugging him back. Dad squeezed the back of his neck gently and the gesture had the Omega relaxing in his hold.

"This Run is incredibly outdated and I wish you didn't have to be a part of it," he murmured. "But I hope you'll find someone who's good to you."

"Even if that's someone with a black Camaro?" Stiles mumbled, rubbing his forehead back and forth across his dad's shoulder.

"Even if it's someone with a black Camaro, yes," the Alpha said dryly, before uttering a soft sigh. "You're going to be okay, kiddo."

Stiles nodded and tightened his grip around dad's waist. "Can we spend tomorrow together?"

"Of course we can."

"Great, I'll even let you get away with eating a steak this once," Stiles grinned, leaning back to look properly at the older man.

Dad rolled his eyes. "I'm a wolf – I can handle steak more than once in a while, Stiles."

"Even wolves can get high cholesterol, dad," Stiles chided him.

From there on they fell into the old, familiar argument again and for a while it felt like any regular Friday evening, one they had shared many times before.

Stiles resolutely didn't think about how this might be his last regular Friday evening that he could spend with his dad.

* * *

Having spent his last day before the Run with his dad had been good for him. They had spent the majority of the day trekking through the woods and having lunch there before returning home and watching stupid movies.

The trip through the woods had allowed Stiles to get rid of the majority of his nerves, the fresh air outside clearing his mind. Whatever would happen during the Run would happen and there wasn't much he could do about it. There was no sense in working himself up before the event had even started.

That turned out to be easier said than done of course and by the time he was waiting behind the line that signified the start on Sunday, together with several other Omega, he started feeling jittery again, his nerves making him hop back and forth from one foot to the other. Other Omega were mingling together, but he couldn't immediately spot someone he knew and so he lingered near the front, watching how the open space in front of the woods became more and more crowded as people kept arriving.

His father was somewhere with Talia and several police officers, keeping an eye on everyone who arrived today. Only unmated people were allowed to enter the sectioned grass field today; anyone else would be unceremoniously thrown out.

The field itself had been divided into two big parts. One part was reserved for the Omega, who were waiting closest to the woods. They were cut off from the Beta and Alpha by a thick, magical barrier, courtesy of Deaton, the local druid, who was watching the proceedings with his usual brand of disinterest. The Omega would get a head start of half an hour. After those thirty minutes were up, the barrier would disappear and the others would be allowed to start running in the woods. It wasn't only the Omega who would be chased – Beta and Alpha would get chased as well by each other if they found themselves more interested in a Beta or an Alpha than an Omega. Only the Omega weren't allowed to chase anyone – a part of the ancient custom people weren't willing to give up either.

A peculiar scent – carrying wisps of leather and undertones of the dark woods – caught his attention all of a sudden and he whirled around, his eyes darting back and forth across the barrier. He was sure he had …

_There._

Hazel coloured eyes – though that description was nowhere sufficient enough to describe the myriad of colours he could pick out, like the flecks of gold, the bright green, the specks of blue … - locked onto his own and Stiles froze underneath the piercing stare.

_He's here_. That thought kept bouncing around in his mind as his heart started pounding and his hands grew clammy, his legs weak like jelly.

Derek Hale was here.

Everybody knew the Hales. That family had lived here for several generations already, practically owned the entire town and every single member was respected by the community. With Talia Hale – the matriarch of the Hale pack – as the mayor their ownership of the place was practically absolute. She had started leading the town four years ago and as many functions required both the Sheriff and the mayor to attend, Stiles had got to know the Hale family by tagging along with his dad.

Talia and Alexander Hale had three children: Laura, the oldest and five years older than Stiles, Derek, three years older than Stiles, and Cora, the youngest and one year younger than Stiles. All three of them had turned out to be an Alpha, but despite their frankly intimidating aura, they were fairly easy to get along with.

During those boring functions Stiles had found himself drifting towards Derek every time, despite the resting bitch face the older boy had sported every time. Admittedly Stiles had been quite intimidated by him at first and in the beginning he had seriously expected Derek to throw him against a wall or something to make him shut up and stop his chattering.

Despite his standoffish nature, though, Derek hadn't minded Stiles' blabbering about every little thing that popped up in his mind and slowly they had started to get to know each other better.

And Stiles discovered he actually quite liked the surly werewolf. Derek had a dry sense of humour that Stiles could appreciate, a counter balance to his own brand of sarcasm, and he liked watching those multicoloured eyes lit up with excitement whenever Derek discussed something history or literature related. Despite the age and Class difference, Derek never made him feel stupid or lesser than him and Stiles appreciated that. At that time, though, he hadn't realised yet just what exactly he was feeling for the older boy.

Then Derek had attended his first Run and had mated with an older woman named Kate. Stiles still wasn't certain what exactly had happened, but his dad had been called for an emergency at the Hale manor four months after the mating and the next day Derek had left town for reasons nobody save for the rest of the Hales and Stiles' dad knew. And Stiles had felt lost, embarrassed that he had got so caught up in one guy and had buried everything he felt for Derek deep in the back of his mind. Denial had been so sweet for so long.

Now Derek had returned. A part of Stiles had feared that the older boy had completely forgotten about him, but that worry had turned to be completely unfounded when he had encountered Derek in the supermarket a couple of weeks ago. They had started talking again, sharing a coffee after school a couple of times, and Stiles knew –

The click he had felt before was still there. He still wanted to see Derek laugh genuinely, felt butterflies whenever their eyes met, still got embarrassingly lost in the Alpha's eyes. It was a fact that Derek had grown up very nicely throughout the entire time he had been gone – the pure muscle that guy packed was just unbelievably _unfair_. People who looked as handsome as Derek did shouldn't be allowed to have the perfect body as well on top of that, but life was clearly fucking unfair.

So yeah, Derek had grown up quite nicely – but he was still that same guy who was secretly a dork and loved discussing history with Stiles and debating with him whether Iron Man or Batman would win. He was still that same guy who could render Stiles speechless with just one look or one smile and who caused butterflies to race around in his stomach

Stiles still wasn't certain whether he actually had a shot with Derek. It was possible that the Alpha saw him as nothing but a good friend, but …

He _had_ said he would see Stiles at the Fertility Run. There was something in his eyes whenever he looked at Stiles, something that made the boy hope that he had a chance after all. That all those smiles and fleeting touches and glittering eyes were all just for _him_.

He knew he had promised his dad not to pin his hopes on Derek in case someone else found him first – which he sincerely doubted, because nobody had ever shown him an inkling of interest, not like Derek had done so far – or if Derek turned out not to be interested after all, but – he couldn't help it.

A part of him was hoping that Derek was there for _him_ , that when the time came for the barrier to be lowered that Derek would go chase after _him_.

Was it that bad to harbour a little spark of hope?

* * *

He couldn't remember the mayor's speech. He knew she had to have given one, as that was part of the tradition before the Run started, but he couldn't remember the words, couldn't recall the tone in which she spoke or even how she had been dressed.

His entire being had been focused on those intense eyes, feeling them stare at him even when he had turned his back towards the older man. The smouldering gaze had prickled his skin, had his fingers tingling and his stomach flipping, feeling hot even underneath the weak sunlight.

Now he was running through the woods, jumping over protruding, thick roots, dashing through bushes, ducking underneath heavy branches; his breath heavy and loud in his ears, his footsteps thundering across the uneven forest floor.

Nobody was allowed to change into their other form to keep it fair for everyone. In his other form, while smaller than a regular wolf, he would be faster and he'd have an easier time navigating through the trees. As it was, it was a damn miracle he hadn't tripped yet.

Something was spurring him on, though, a call in his blood that had him racing through the woods as fast as he could, leaving behind all the others. He didn't know whether someone was chasing him, hadn't heard anyone else near him in a while, but he didn't care.

All he cared about was going faster, going deeper into the woods, forcing whoever was behind him to prove themselves, show that they were stronger and quicker than him.

Prove that they were worthy of becoming his mate.

The trees sang, their branches caressing him lovingly as he sped past them, underneath them. The air vibrated with something unknown, the ground trilled and the light filtering through the rooftop guided him the way.

He was close, so close, he just needed to be a bit quicker, put more force behind his leaps and then …

Something slammed into him from the left side and they went down snarling and growling, hands and claws grappling, and legs kicking. They rolled around and around, now Stiles was on top, then the other one, then Stiles again before the other one – a man judging by the solid muscle and the heavy musky scent filtering into Stiles' nose – was pinning him down again.

Snarling, Stiles kicked out his legs, hell bent on pushing the other one away, but hands slammed his wrists down on the rough underground and then there were teeth resting against his neck, not biting down – not yet, but soon, very soon – and all the fight suddenly drained out of him, defeat making him slump on the ground.

Panting, his chest heaving up and down quickly, he opened his eyes – and when had he closed them? – and stared straight into glowing gold and green and blue, pupils wide, nearly swallowing up the myriad of colours.

"Derek," he breathed out, eyes widening in shock even as elation filled his body, making him feel like he was about to start floating.

_Derek had caught him_. Derek had chased _him_ , had gone after him, and now he was pinning the Omega down with his entire body, his eyes ablaze and fangs showing, a deep rumble causing his chest to vibrate.

"Got you," Derek growled, smirking around his fangs.

Breathless laughter escaped Stiles and he clenched and relaxed his fists, claws tightening carefully around his wrists. Exhilarated – _Derek caught him, Derek wanted him, Derek liked him, oh fuck_ – he grinned and stretched up as much as the Alpha would allow. "Yeah, you did," he agreed, licking his own fangs. "What are you going to do now, hm?"

His smirk widening, Derek bent down and murmured, "I'm going to - "

A loud snarl interrupted him and their heads shot towards the sound. For a couple of seconds they saw nothing and they tensed up. Just as Stiles was wondering whether another couple was fighting near them, a figure emerged from behind a tree.

Theo Raeken.

"Sorry, Hale, but I saw him first," Theo murmured, his eyes glinting in the sunlight as he took a step closer, looking like a predator stalking its prey. "So why don't you get your claws off him, hm?"

Stiles didn't know Theo personally. All he knew was that the guy had moved into town a year ago and attended some classes with him. They had never interacted with each other, didn't even acknowledge each other, so what the hell? Who did Theo think he was that he thought he could stake a claim on him just like that?

Stiles huffed and rolled his eyes. It didn't matter anyway. Even if Theo challenged Derek, Derek was stronger and stubborn as fuck. He knew Derek wouldn't lose. He'd still hate it if they did come to blows about him, but the rules were clear about a situation like this: two Alpha were allowed to challenge each other if they wanted the same person. The only Class who wasn't allowed to challenge an Alpha and had to concede their defeat was …

Derek got off him and stepped away, his eyes downcast to the ground, even as his hands were clenched at his sides. _Conceding his defeat_.

Heart pounding – but for an entirely different reason now – Stiles scrambled up, his eyes darting back and forth between Derek and Theo. "Derek, why the hell …" Something wasn't right here, there had to be some kind of misunderstanding because –

Because the only Class not allowed to challenge an Alpha was a Beta. But Derek wasn't a Beta.

Right?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: I'm so sorry for leaving you all hanging for this long! That was never my intention but the heat wave currently happening here has been draining my energy and cutting into my time of writing :/ Still, I apologise for taking so long!
> 
> Thank you so much for your comments and kudos! I hadn't expected this story to gain this much support already! :O
> 
> Warnings: Hm nothing special. Just a smidgen of angst I suppose
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it
> 
> I hope you'll like this chapter!

_Chapter 2_

"Derek?" he repeated, growing more and more uncertain as seconds passed by in unsettling silence from the other man.

Derek refused to look at him, instead keeping his eyes firmly trained on the ground; his claws and fangs were still visible, but he made no attempt to challenge Theo with them. He just remained standing there stiffly, as immobile as a statue.

"Ah," Theo sighed; the sound loud and jarring in the tense silence which had fallen between them just now. "I thought you knew, Stiles."

When Stiles turned around to glare at him, the Alpha was looking at him apologetically. "You thought I knew _what_?" he asked through gritted teeth; Derek's continuous silence putting him more and more on edge.

Things had just started to become interesting, even as his mind was still reeling with the fact that Derek liked him too, but everything was going to shit now and panic was brewing in the pit of his stomach. He refused to show it, though, instead straightening out his shoulders and jutting out his chin. There had to be a reasonable explanation for this, right? Maybe Derek was just worried about him, not wanting to attack Theo in case Stiles ended up in the midst of the fray.

Nothing else made sense after all.

Theo glanced at Derek, but when the latter still remained mute, he shrugged. "That Hale's a Beta of course. I thought you knew that."

Stiles stared at him, sure that he had misheard him. Maybe the birds chirping high above them had distorted Theo's voice somewhat, because he couldn't have said that …

That Derek was a Beta, right? He couldn't be one, because he smelt like an Alpha! Theo had to be bullshitting now; there was no way Derek, who had smelt like an Alpha for as long as Stiles had known him, who was as powerful and fast as an Alpha, would be a _Beta_.

He would have known by now if Derek was a Beta, considering the time they had spent in each other's company. The idea of Derek being anything but an Alpha was absurd, laughable even!

Scoffing, he raised an eyebrow. "Yeah sure and I'm a king. You expect me to believe you?"

Theo nodded at Derek. "Ask him if you don't believe me. Hale, are you or are you not a Beta?"

Stiles looked at Derek, expecting to hear him scoff any second now and tell Theo to fuck off, because of course he was an Alpha. It would happen and then he and Derek could finally go back to messing around a bit before they would leave the forest and present themselves to the Council to announce their new bond. After that Stiles could go brag to Scott about his amazing mate and everything would be fine, perfect even!

Any moment now …

When Derek finally looked up, however, he wasn't sneering at Theo or showing other signs that he was annoyed by the Alpha's accusations. Instead, he looked … resigned, defeated even and Stiles' heart clenched; his palms growing clammy as he stared numbly at the other man.

Why wasn't Derek defending himself? Why was he just staring there with a look on his face that said – that said he couldn't disagree with Theo?

"I'm a Beta, Stiles," Derek said softly.

"What?" Stiles thought he could be forgiven for that shrill chuckle even if it made Derek wince. "No, no, you're not a Beta, stop joking around. You smell like an Alpha, you can't be a Beta, Derek!" he said agitatedly, but even as he said that, he knew.

Derek wouldn't lie about something as his Class, wouldn't joke about it, not when their bonding was at risk.

"I spend a lot of time with my sisters," Derek explained uncomfortably, looking utterly miserable. "Their scent – it often gets mixed up with my own and … And that's probably why I smell like an Alpha. I'm sorry, Stiles. I thought – I thought you knew I'm a Beta."

"Remember the rules, Hale," Theo remarked, crossing his arms.

Derek looked away, his fangs and claws slowly receding. "I'll – I'll go now."

Before Stiles could do or say anything to stop him, Derek disappeared, running off into the forest, leaving the Omega alone with Theo.

Numbly Stiles stared in the direction Derek had left, wondering whether this was really happening now. Maybe this whole thing was just a nightmare and he still needed to wake up and attend the Run? Quickly he pinched his arm and grimaced when the sharp stinging pain instantly registered. The spot he had pinched, reddened and he rubbed over it slowly, trying to understand what exactly had just occurred.

So Derek had chased after him, like he had dreamt about ever since he had realised that his feelings for the older man went beyond just mere companionship, and they had been so close to sealing the bond with a kiss and then Theo had appeared and fucked up everything. All because he was an Alpha and Derek was apparently a Beta and how could Stiles not have noticed that before?

Hot tears pricked against his eyeballs and he blinked rapidly, swallowing down the lump which was blocking his throat. He wasn't going to cry, not here in this damn forest and certainly not near the man who had just cost him a relationship he had actually wanted.

More than ever before he hated the Fertility Run and all those fucking archaic rules attached to it. If it weren't for those damned rules, he and Derek would have made their way to the Council now – or would have still been making out – and they could have started getting to know each other even better.

Instead Derek had been forced to take a step back and Theo got to go with Stiles to the Council, even though he hadn't done any chasing, hadn't proven that he was really suitable as a mate. He had hidden behind those stupid rules, forcing Derek to obey them or be fined and have his reputation – and that of the Hales as a whole – endure a strong blow.

The town still took the Fertility Run and its rules very seriously and not even a family considered to be the founders of the town would get leeway with those rules.

This had turned into one gigantic nightmare, but one he wouldn't wake up from, no matter how hard he tried.

"Stiles?"

Taking a deep breath, Stiles looked at Theo, who was studying him curiously. "Well, I suppose we should go to the Council now then. Daytime's wasting and all that," he said, waving his hand haphazardly around them. There were still some hours of daylight left, judging by the position of the sun, but the quicker they got this over with, the better.

_Just six months_ , he reminded himself; his nails digging into his palms. _Just six months and you're free. What's six months? You've waited longer than that for a game to be released!_

Whilst true, it didn't really set him at ease. Six months seemed daunting all of a sudden, a time period which stretched out in front of him with no ending in sight.

Six months had never felt this long before.

"I know I'm not your first choice," Theo said carefully, smiling wryly.

Stiles had to bite on his tongue to prevent a sarcastic retort from slipping out. They were already off to a great start it seemed.

"But I hope you'll still give me a chance, so that we can get to know each other better," the Alpha continued; his blue eyes catching the sunlight being filtered through the leaves and making them glitter.

"No offense, Theo, but it's not like I have much of a choice about that," Stiles couldn't help but point out bitterly. Whether he wanted to or not, he was obligated to give Theo a chance.

If he could have got away with it, he would have straight up ignored the other man for the following six months, but if he did that, Theo was well in his rights to complain about that to the Council and those stuck up bastards would force Stiles to comply. Stiles' refusal wouldn't reflect well on the Sheriff either and he wasn't willing to risk his father's hard earned position just because he loathed the one who had 'caught' him.

Theo inclined his head. "I suppose not," he murmured and eyed Stiles strangely before offering a faint smile. "Well, let's go back then. We're quite deep into the forest, so it'll be a while before we're back."

Throwing a cursory look around him, Stiles realised for the first time that they were indeed quite deep into the forest. When he had been running, he had been following some kind of instinct which kept leading him further and further away and it hadn't occurred to him then just how far his instinct had led him.

Huh, he was apparently more athletic than he had thought. Hooray for him, he supposed.

* * *

The journey back to the field was a quiet one and Stiles mused humourlessly that his dad and Scott – and basically anyone who knew him – would be astonished by that, considering most of the time Stiles hardly knew when to shut up.

He could talk endlessly about even the most inane topic – Wikipedia had the strangest shit in their collection – but now his lips were sealed shut as he trudged beside Theo through the forest. He wasn't in the mood to talk to the Alpha; all he wanted was to go back home and stew and feel miserable about how the Run had ended for him. He knew he would have to talk to Theo eventually – unfortunately he couldn't spend six months ignoring the other man – but for today he wanted to stew in the injustice that was the Run and its stupid, backwards rules and mourn the fact that it would take at least six months before he and Derek could try being with each other.

If Derek still wanted him after this.

_Sure, he does_ , he told himself in a weak attempt to cheer himself up. _He wouldn't have chased me throughout the entire forest if he didn't really want me. What's six months anyway? Nothing compared to the three years he was gone._

It wasn't like he couldn't talk to Derek in the meantime either. Nothing in the rules stated he could only be in contact with the one who had caught him – which was just as well, because there was no way in hell he would have given up his dad or Scott or even Mama McCall. As long as he didn't outright flirt with Derek or did anything that could even be vaguely misunderstood as 'cheating' on his partner, nothing stopped him from being with Derek.

He needed to talk to him as soon as possible, if only to reassure him that it didn't matter to him that Derek was a Beta and not an Alpha as Stiles had mistakenly assumed for all those years. Who cared whether his eyes flashed golden or red? Derek was Derek and that was all that mattered.

Just six more months and he could prove to Derek that his Class didn't matter at all.

He could do this. If he could survive a history project with Jackson ' _Look at me, I'm so fucking perfect_ ' Whittemore, then he could survive hanging out with Theo for six months.

No biggie. There were worse things in the universe.

* * *

One of the old dudes belonging to the Council looked quite perplexed when Theo announced he had caught Stiles and frankly, the Omega felt quite insulted. He wasn't that ugly, for fuck's sake! Sure, he might not look as boyishly pretty as Danny did nor as gorgeous as Derek or as handsome as Deputy Parrish, but he wasn't an entirely lost case!

Case in point: two men at least wanted him! Objectively speaking, Theo wasn't that hard on the eyes either. Not that he cared about that and not that he had actually wanted someone else aside from Derek to show interest in him, but he had made his point. He wasn't so undesirable that the old bastard had to look so surprised that someone had actually willingly caught him.

Once again he cursed the Fertility Run and the Council for keeping that tradition alive.

As soon as their names had been registered, Stiles stalked off, itching to leave as soon as possible. Even so, he glanced around when he reached the car park, hoping to spot Derek's Camaro so that he could talk with him.

No such luck. His shoulders slumped as he realised the car park was completely devoid of the familiar black car. There were still quite some cars parked, glinting in the sunlight, but Derek's car was so distinctive it would be difficult to miss it even with all these cars grouped together.

"Damn it," he sighed, running his hands over his face. Well, all was not lost yet. He knew where the Hales lived, so tomorrow he'd go over and talk to Derek to sort out this mess.

Fishing his keys out of his pocket, he started making his way to his blue jeep – as distinctive as the Camaro was – eager to go home for now and wallow in his misery for at least a little while. He figured he had earned that particular right with how shitty this day had turned out to be.

"Stiles!"

He halted and closed his eyes for a moment before slowly turning around, watching Theo hurry towards him. "What?" he asked flatly, not caring at the moment whether he sounded rude or not.

"I was wondering – would you want to grab a coffee with me tomorrow?" Theo asked, a tad breathless as he came to a stop in front of the Omega. "So that we can start getting to know each other better."

Stiles hesitated, shuffling with his feet. There wouldn't be any classes for a week to give the new couples some time together – and it being May, exams would start soon anyway – so he didn't really have an excuse to refuse. He guessed he could fib and tell Theo he needed to study, but he couldn't keep pushing it off. Perhaps it was like ripping off a band-aid: better to do it as quickly as possible.

Checking a sigh, he answered, "Yeah sure. When and where?"

"Two o'clock?" Theo suggested. "I'll drive you if that's okay with you."

"Sure," Stiles muttered, figuring it would save him on gas at least. "I'll see you tomorrow then." And stepped into his car before Theo could say anything else.

He resolutely refused to look at the Alpha when he drove off, passing several new couples who looked decidedly happier than he felt like.

Clenching his hands around the steering wheel, he repeated what was quickly becoming a mantra: _Just six months_.

He could do this.

* * *

When he arrived home, the house was dark and silent; his dad still patrolling the area of the Run. He'd be home in a couple of hours when the last stragglers had been registered and gone home.

For one brief moment Stiles could have been one of those stragglers while dad would have shaken his head in exasperation at seeing his son leave the woods as one of the last. He would have been happy for Stiles, though.

Shaking his head, he kicked off his shoes, _thump, thump_ against the wall, and dropped his keys in the ceramic bowl his mum had thought was cute while both men were of the firm opinion it was the ugliest thing they had ever had the misfortune to encounter. They never thought of throwing it out, though.

On bare feet he went into the kitchen to grab something to drink. His phone was charging on the counter and he picked it up, pulling the plug out of it, before retrieving the bottle of milk from the fridge. As he drank directly from the bottle – dad wasn't here to scold him about it anyway – he pressed on the home button and watched the screen light up. There was one new message waiting for him and he opened it, already knowing who had sent it before looking at the name.

Scott: _'Don't know when you're going to read this, but let me know how it went! I'm cheering for you, buddy!'_

The timestamp indicated that his best friend had sent the encouraging message at ten to ten – Stiles had already been waiting on the field then. Every participant had been forced to leave their phone behind in order to keep the playing field fair. Scott knew this and while Stiles' Run definitely hadn't turned out like he had wanted it to, he appreciated Scott's support nonetheless.

He just couldn't bring himself to reply to him yet. He wasn't in the right state of mind to deal with Scott's inevitable shock and the barrage of questions which would no doubt be unleashed. Stiles himself was still trying to come to terms with what had happened – he wasn't ready to deal with Scott's reaction.

Dropping his phone back onto the counter, he wiped his hand across his mouth and put the milk back into the fridge. Rising up again he glanced around the kitchen, wondering what he should do now. He could go upstairs, maybe take a shower or take a nap after the restless sleep he had had last night, but …

He was feeling too jittery to do any of those things. His thoughts were racing around, whirling like a hurricane and nervous energy thrummed through his veins, refusing to let him settle down and relax. His stomach was doing weird flips and he became hyper aware of the silence hanging heavily in the house.

Abruptly he stripped off his clothes, dropping them carelessly onto the floor in a crumpled pile, and walked to the door leading to the garden. He couldn't stay in the house, not when it was this dark and silent, without anything or anybody to distract him. He needed to move, to run freely and wildly, leave all this worries behind for now.

Slipping out of the door, he took care to close it before turning around to face the garden. Their garden went over into a small forest behind it; the line of thick, tall trees marking the end of their property.

Stretching out his limbs, he shook them loose and raised his head for a moment, studying the position of the sun. It was starting to set slowly, the intensity of its rays diminishing gradually, but he still had a few hours left before it would turn completely dark. Not that he was planning on staying away for hours.

He took the three steps down, almost stumbling over the last one. Feeling the grass between his toes, each individual blade tickling his skin, he closed his eyes and concentrated, allowing the change to take over. It had taken him a couple of years of practicing over and over again, growing frustrated with himself whenever he only managed to reach his demi form, but now the change rippled through him easily, contorting his muscles, organs and bones into the right shape smoothly.

A couple of seconds later, the naked man had disappeared, leaving a fox in his place with a shiny, deep read coat and a bushy tail with a white tip, looking like a large, animated paint brush. Black eyes opened and took in his surroundings; everything always looked so different whenever he assumed his form, mostly due to the sudden height difference. His tail swishing back and forth, he spent some time snuffling around the garden, picking up faint traces of mice, some birds and even a rabbit, which had all visited the garden at least once today.

The sound of a low pitched howl somewhere in the distance had him raising his head abruptly and for a moment he stood still, listening to the wind rustling through the leaves; the mice scurrying around underneath the bushes; the birds chirping and tweeting and arguing high up in the trees; some cars passing by and the baby granddaughter of Mrs. Wilson crying four houses down the street.

Energy thrummed in his veins and with a sudden burst of speed he took off, rushing into the small forest as fast as his paws allowed him to. He jumped gracefully over fall tree trunks, sped by a grey tabby cat who hissed at him and sprang away, startled birds when he ran straight at them, yapping and growling.

The forest was alive around him, welcoming him home with its many arms, encouraging him to go faster, further, higher. The scents lingering around in this place were as familiar to him as the scents in his home and he leapt over a berry bush; sharp, small teeth revealing themselves through a large grin as the feeling of exhilaration took over.

How many times hadn't he seen his mum run around in the forest, playing with him in her fox form? She had been incredibly beautiful as a fox; her red coat shimmery and full, her dark eyes alight with mischief when she mock fought with dad in his wolf form. She had seemed larger than life itself, appearing more like an ancient spirit of the forest than a common animal.

She had called the forest her home and had made sure her son felt welcome in it.

Ever since finding out he was a fox like his mum and not a wolf like his dad, he had dreamt of the day he would be able to run next to her in his full form; the both of them racing through the woods, side to side.

She had died before he had achieved his first transformation.

She hadn't lived long enough to see his full form, but even so, when he raced through these woods; when he inhaled the clean air, the scents dancing on it; when his paws touched the very same earth hers had touched once upon a time … He felt close to her, connected, as if her spirit had never truly left.

Here in this place, in this moment, he felt safe, protected, like nothing bad could happen to him as long as he was here. The woods took care of him, kept the bad thoughts away and for just this moment he didn't have to think of what he had left behind at the house.

He didn't think about Theo and how he would get through the upcoming six months. He didn't contemplate how his dad and Scott would react. He didn't worry about Derek's reaction and whether or not the man would be willing to wait for him.

Here all that mattered was the soft ground giving away underneath his paws, the tree branches creaking and leaves rustling, the peaceful gurgling noise of the creek nearby and the sunlight warming his coat.

For just this moment he felt _free_.

* * *

The sun was low against the horizon, painting the sky with streaks of red, orange and purple, when Stiles dragged his paws back to the house. It had been nice to spend time in the woods again, remembering as he had run through it why his mum had loved that place so much. His mind had been blissfully empty for those hours with his only concern being whether he could catch a fish without tumbling into the water himself.

But now the sun was setting and he had heard dad's car arriving a while ago and he knew he couldn't stay in the woods forever – no matter how tempting that idea was.

So with great reluctance, he slinked out of the cover of the trees and scurried to the house. The backdoor opened and he skidded inside, running past dad. After so much time spent between bushes and trees, he knew he had got dirty and a shower sounded great at the moment.

Dad didn't stop him when he raced upstairs still in his fox form, but instead started rummaging in the kitchen. On the landing Stiles stood still and concentrated again, shaking off his full form as easily as he had slipped into it. He took a few seconds to stretch his limbs and shake out his hands and legs – spending so much time in his full form always left him a bit disorientated once he turned back; his mind and body disconnecting for just a short moment before they realigned again.

Naked he strode into the bathroom, stepping into the shower before the water could properly warm up. Staring blankly at the wall in front of him allowed him to not start thinking just yet and on automatic pilot he washed himself, briskly but efficiently.

Once he figured he was clean enough, he shut off the shower and stepped out of it, nearly tripping over the edge and smashing his head onto the edge of the sink. Grimacing – why he never could be as graceful as a human as he was in his full form was a mystery to him – he snatched a towel out of the small closet and dried himself off quickly. After dropping the towel into the plastic basket – they'd have to do laundry soon, judging by the pile accumulated in it – he went into his room and changed into a faded grey shirt that hung loosely around his frame and shorts before making his way downstairs again.

Dad was waiting for him in the kitchen with two mugs of hot chocolate waiting on the table. At Stiles' raised eyebrow, dad shrugged and said, "I figured this was a day where you could use that."

"Thanks," Stiles smiled faintly, plopping down on the chair and dragging the mug towards him.

"How did it go?" Dad asked carefully. "Considering you went into the woods, is it safe to say that – it didn't go as you wanted?"

Stiles snorted at that and staring down into the steaming liquid, he mumbled, "Derek caught me."

"Oh." A pause. "I thought that was what you wanted?"

"It was," Stiles confirmed and looked up, but kept his eyes fixated on dad's collar. There was a smudge of red sauce there, clearly wiped away hastily and he wondered whether dad had cheated on his diet again and had eaten a hamburger before coming home. Any other day and he'd scold the older man for that, but now he couldn't bring himself to do that.

"But?"

"Derek caught me and then an Alpha appeared. Did you know Derek's a Beta?"

"Oh, Stiles," Dad sighed and when the younger man glanced at him, he saw him rubbing his face. "I'm sorry to hear that, kid. I know you wanted Derek to catch you."

"So you knew he's a Beta," Stiles muttered and slumped into his chair, bitterness rearing its ugly head once more. Had he been the only one who had been too stupid to catch Derek's real scent?

"I did, yeah. You thought he was an Alpha?"

"He smells like an Alpha."

"Well, I suppose he does. He hangs out with his sisters a lot," Dad murmured thoughtfully. When he looked at his son next, his eyes were full of apprehension and worry lurked deep within them. "Who's the Alpha?"

"Theo Raeken."

"Ah."

Silence fell between them as they sipped from their chocolate milk. Three cars had passed their house and the German Shepherd of their neighbours had barked to welcome his owners home before dad broke the silence again.

"What are you going to do now?"

Stiles rolled his shoulders and grimaced. "Get through these six months with Theo, I suppose. It's not like I have a choice." He scowled; his fingers tightening around the mug.

"And afterwards?"

Nibbling on his lower lip, he rubbed over his forehead. "Break it off with Theo and … hope that Derek will still want me by then," he replied in a low voice; a part of him not daring to hope for that.

Six months was quite a while – could he really expect Derek to wait for him that long? That wouldn't be really fair to him, right?

Dad's hand closing around his left one startled him and he looked up in surprise, catching dad's eyes. "Derek's not the type to change his mind so quickly," he reminded his son. "He'll wait for you, I'm sure."

"Six months is quite a while, dad," Stiles retorted, frowning even as he gripped dad's hand. "It wouldn't be fair to him to expect him to wait for that long."

"Six months is nothing," Dad scoffed, shaking his head. "Don't decide in his place, kid. I'm sure that if you talk to him, you'll find out he's more than willing to wait."

"Maybe," Stiles mumbled, still not entirely convinced. God, it'd be amazing if Derek was willing to wait for him, though …

"He will," Dad said confidently, retracting his hand. He took another sip before casually adding, "He didn't take off his eyes from you even once all that time you stood waiting there for the Run to begin. I'd say that counts for something."

Ducking his head, Stiles could feel his cheeks turning red and against his will, a smile spread out across his face.

Maybe, just maybe, things would turn out okay after all. After all, what were six months?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: I hope this wasn't too bad! The chapter gave me a bit of trouble at times, but I hope it doesn't show ^^;
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me!
> 
> See you all in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Again apologies for the lateness of this chapter *winces* I knew which scenes I wanted, but getting the words on paper proved to be a tad more difficult than expected. I'm really sorry for the delay!
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and the kudos so far! I really appreciate them!
> 
> Warnings: nothing really specific as far as I'm aware of
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 3_

"Aw, man, that really sucks," Scott said and the genuine regret in his voice made Stiles only feel slightly better.

"Yeah, I had some shit luck today," Stiles muttered, falling down on his bed on his back; his legs spread out and feet still resting on the floor.

The only light in his room came from the streetlamp outside and it threw an orange thin beam across his desk, over his bed and onto the wall. With how thin and faint it was, it barely provided any decent light, but he didn't want to get up and turn on his lamp.

It was already past midnight, long after the Run had finished, and he was only just now calling his best friend to tell him about what had happened. Scott wasn't bothered by the late hour; it wouldn't be the first time Stiles called him up in the middle of the night just to discuss something he had read on the internet and which couldn't wait until they saw each other in school.

"But well, at least you know now that Derek's into you?" Scott offered hesitatingly, sounding cautiously optimistic.

Out of the two of them, he was definitely the most optimistic one.

"That's true." Stiles frowned at his ceiling, watching the orange beam get briefly interrupted as the bulb flickered. That thing had been going off and on for a couple of weeks now; dad had mentioned it at the town hall, but so far they didn't seem in the mood to fix it.

"But?" Scott asked, knowing Stiles well enough that a ' _but_ ' would inevitably follow.

"But that doesn't mean he's going to wait six months," Stiles said, sighing frustratedly as he tugged at his hair. "He can always decide it's not worth the wait."

_That I'm not worth the wait._

That dark thought spun around in his mind, bouncing back and forth even as he tried to ignore it. His conversation with dad earlier this evening had made him feel better about the whole ordeal, had even made him believe that Derek would be willing to wait an additional six months before they could have their first date, but now he was alone in his room and all his insecurities and doubts started to fester once more, hissing at him that there was no way for Derek to want him enough to be willing to wait.

"Pretty sure he came back after all this time for you, dude," Scott pointed out, annoyingly calm. "I don't know him like you do, but do you really think he'd have caught you if he wasn't serious about you?"

"No," Stiles answered reluctantly, biting down on his lip. Derek didn't do things on a whim. Laura might, sure, she was known to be rather impulsive at times, even Cora, but Derek had always been the most cautious one of all three, thinking first before doing something.

"You're going to talk to him soon, right?"

"Yeah, I'm planning on talking to him tomorrow – or well later today," he corrected himself, seeing as it was already past midnight.

"Just explain everything. It'll be fine," Scott said confidently.

"I hope so," Stiles muttered darkly and stifled a yawn. Usually he had no problems staying up late, but the shifting on top of the events of today had wiped him out quite badly. His eyelids were starting to burn subtly with the need for some good night's sleep.

"It will, you'll see."

They said their goodbyes when it became clear that Stiles' speech was starting to slur – not that Scott was doing any better, counting the various yawns that interspersed his side of their conversation.

Dropping his phone on his nightstand, he laid there for a moment longer, staring at the ceiling. After having kept his feelings for Derek a secret for such a long time, relief filled him at finally having come clean to his best friend. Better yet: Scott hadn't reacted badly at all!

He knew he should have had more trust in his buddy, but you could never know, right? It had been one thing to witness him so besotted with Lydia Martin, a girl their own age, but it was a whole other thing to hear that he had been nursing a crush on a guy three years older.

Sure, three years was nothing in the grand scheme of things, especially not since Stiles had recently turned eighteen, but still …

As he went to the bathroom to take a leak and brush his teeth, he could only hope that his conversation with Derek would go just as smoothly.

And as for Theo …

Just six months, he reminded himself, climbing into his bed again. Just six months and then he was free of Theo.

* * *

Typically he was not an early riser. He was the type of person to go to bed extremely late and sleep in until the last possible second. During school weeks this often left him rushing around during the mornings, trying to cram some toast in his mouth while at the same time dressing himself and making sure he had everything with him.

Weekends and holidays were meant to sleep in for as long as possible in his opinion and while he loved to do exactly that during the week they weren't required to be at school following the Run, when his alarm blared obnoxiously loud on Monday morning, instead of pressing the snooze button over and over again, he slammed it once and sat up.

Drowsily he looked around in his room, noticing the faint glow of the morning sun illuminating his room. His body still heavy with sleep, he was very tempted to just lie back down and go back to sleep for at least a couple more hours, but there was a reason why he had set his alarm for half past seven.

With a deep groan, he stood up, nearly tripping over his backpack – he seriously needed to start remembering to put that next to his desk instead of next to his bed. His coordination was already quite shit as it was, he didn't need more obstacles.

After finishing up in the bathroom he slipped back into his room to pull on some jeans he found thrown over his chair – they didn't look stained nor smelt badly, so they were deemed good enough – and a dark red sweatshirt. May might have rolled into Beacon Hills, but that didn't mean the weather would change to fit with the month.

Sure it was no longer dreadfully cold and he no longer felt like his balls would freeze off, but it was still rather chilly during the mornings. It would still be quite a while before he could dug out his T-shirts again.

Dad was already in the kitchen when Stiles stumbled inside, which made sense given that the man had a shift starting soon. The Sheriff raised an eyebrow as he watched his son amble to the cupboards in search for something to eat.

"You feeling all right, son?" he asked, sounding both wary and amused at the same time. "It's only eight o'clock – aren't you usually still asleep at this hour?"

"Yes, don't remind me," Stiles muttered darkly, deciding on a bowl of cereals because he was too lazy to make an omelette. He filled his mug with coffee on his way to the table and dropped down heavily on the chair.

"Any particular reason you're up so early?" Dad inquired, his eyes sharp as they studied the younger man. He hesitated for a moment before adding, "Didn't sleep well?"

Anyone else would think his dad hesitating before asking such an innocuous question was weird, but Stiles knew instantly what he was actually referring to. After his mother had died, Stiles had had awful nightmares for months. He hadn't been a stranger to waking up screaming and terrified out of his mind. His dad had been there for him every night to calm him down and soothe him back to sleep, no matter whether he had an early shift or not. Most of the time, though, Stiles had just remained awake, too scared to go back to sleep.

Given the way his day had ended yesterday, Stiles supposed he couldn't fault the older man for worrying that he had had another nightmare – especially given how early he had woken up.

"No, I set my alarm this early," he answered and didn't miss the way dad's shoulders slumped slightly in relief. "I want to talk to Derek and seeing as he always wakes up at a ridiculously early hour, I figured I'd best talk to him as soon as possible."

"It's only ' _ridiculously early_ ' for you, kid," Dad retorted dryly, draining the last bit of his coffee before standing up. "But I'm glad you're going to talk to him." He walked around the table and squeezed Stiles' shoulder softly. "Let me know how it went tonight, okay?"

"Sure thing, pops," Stiles said, forcing himself to smile. Already his stomach was doing odd twists and turns at the prospect of talking to Derek.

It was stupid, really. He had talked with Derek without any problems ever since he'd come back to town, but now the thought of speaking to him, asking him whether he was willing to wait, had his stomach cramping and his coffee tasting more bitter than normally.

"It'll be fine," Dad said, sounding confident. "I'll see you tonight, okay?"

"Yeah, okay, be safe."

"Always am."

* * *

The Hale house had never looked so daunting before as today. Peering up at it through the window shield of his Jeep, Stiles contemplated once more whether this was a good idea.

A part of him wanted to go back home, so certain that Derek would reject him and say he didn't want to wait another six months for him. Stiles wouldn't blame him if he reacted like that.

It was also possible, however, that Derek wouldn't mind waiting for half a year and he wouldn't know that for sure if he ran away like a coward now.

Not to mention – Derek had looked somewhat ashamed when he had to clarify he was a Beta and not an Alpha and Stiles wanted to erase any doubt the older man could have about Stiles' opinion about him. Sure, he had believed for years that Derek was an Alpha just like his sisters, but he hadn't started liking him because he was an Alpha, but simply because of who he was.

Alpha, Beta, Omega – it didn't matter to Stiles. Derek was Derek and Stiles would gladly prove that – as soon as Theo was out of the picture completely.

But to do that, he'd have to get out of the car first. Right.

Heaving a big sigh, he undid his seatbelt and stepped out of his car. Derek's Camaro was parked near the large house, next to a dark blue Mercedes – his father's car. Derek's car being here meant he was still home, right? Unless he had hitched a ride with someone else, but Stiles doubted that.

The front door opened before he had taken the last step onto the porch, revealing Laura dressed in an oversized dark blue shirt and white cotton shorts; her long legs and feet were bare and Stiles absently wondered whether she wasn't feeling at least a little bit chilly. She was leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed and raised an eyebrow.

"Finally decided to leave the sanctuary of your car?" she questioned lightly.

He rubbed the back of his head and released a jittery chuckle. "Heh, nothing gets past you, huh?"

"It's hard to ignore the amount of noise your jeep makes, Stiles," she pointed out mildly; her eyes flashing with amusement before she grew solemn again. "You're here early," she said quietly.

"Eh yeah, I was," he took a deep breath, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, "I wanted to talk to Derek actually and I know you're all up really early so …" he trailed off, feeling uncomfortable underneath the scrutiny she subjected him to.

"I'm not so sure whether that's a good idea, Stiles," she said slowly and hey, at least she didn't sound pissed enough to bite his head off, so that was a good start.

"I'm not so sure either, but I really need to talk to him, Laura," he said, releasing a soft sigh.

"He told me you thought he was an Alpha." She tapped the fingers of her right hand against her left arm, crossing her ankles.

Exasperatedly he threw up his hands. "Yes, apparently I was the only idiot who got confused by his scent, big deal! It doesn't matter, I really need to talk to him."

"Didn't Theo Raeken catch you?" She frowned heavily; disapproval as an underlying current in her voice.

He scowled at the mention of the Alpha's name. "He didn't so much as catch me as use the rules of the Run against Derek and me," he retorted bitterly. "Trust me, if I had been up to me, Theo could fuck off for all I care."

She studied him in silence for a moment, seeming to debate about something, before she nodded slowly. "Derek's in his room. Second floor." She straightened up and took a few steps aside, clearing the way for him.

"Thanks," he muttered, slipping past her inside the large entrance hall.

The Hale family was a large one, with aunts and uncles and cousins dropping by frequently, so Stiles couldn't really discern any individual scent, except for some vague hints. Derek's scent was the only one which popped out the most, though, but that was probably because he had always been rather fixated on it. He'd probably be able to single it out even in a room with a thousand people pressed tightly together.

Bright blue eyes regarded him with some kind of dark amusement from the top of the staircase. "Oh good," Peter, Derek's uncle and a guy Stiles still hadn't figured out what to think of, said lightly. "You're here. The fun's not over yet." He sounded pleased, even though Stiles had no fucking clue what the hell he was talking about.

He squinted up at the Beta man. "Has anyone ever told you your cryptid comments are annoying?" he asked mildly, resting his hand on the banister. The staircase was made of some dark brown wood which gleamed in the light and felt smooth underneath his hand.

Peter hummed and descended the stairs. "There might have been a mention of that once or twice," he replied airily and smirked. "Do be careful with my nephew: he's in a delicate state now."

That made a loud, aggravated growl echo from somewhere upstairs and Stiles frowned at the older man, whose smirk only grew as he disappeared into the living room. When Stiles looked at Laura, she only shrugged and rolled her eyes, giving him a look that said 'What can you do?'

He pulled a face at her before steeling himself and slowly ascending the stairs. The closer he got to the landing, the more his stomach seemed to try to digest itself, which was a disconcerting feeling and had him scowling at himself. What the hell was he even nervous about? This was Derek, for fuck's sake! He had been talking to the man for weeks, what was the worst that could happen?

The worst that could happen would be the older man rejecting him, which okay, yeah, would suck majorly hard, but – well, at least he'd have his answer. There was no need to be this nervous, he was just being stupid.

Still he hesitated in front of the closed door, his hand curled into a fist hovering in front of it. There wasn't a need to guess which bedroom was Derek's on this floor; only one door was closed and the other rooms were empty, so unless Derek had moved to an entire different floor or scaled down the house through the window in his room, he still had to be in there.

_Here goes nothing_ , he thought slightly hysterical and knocked on the door, shifting his weight from one leg to the other one and back. Derek most likely knew already that he was waiting here, but it would have still been impolite to just barge in.

Not that Stiles wasn't known to be impolite at times and simply barge into rooms even when he wasn't allowed to – his dad had a lot of experience with that – but this time it was different. It didn't feel right to just enter without giving Derek a chance to refuse.

Not after the way they had parted yesterday.

For a long moment there was no movement at all on the other side of the door and Stiles grew restless. How long should he wait here? Should he knock again or …

The door opened. Derek was dressed in nothing but a pair of black sweatpants, the muscles in his arms bulging as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Any other moment and Stiles would have definitely made use of Derek's lack of torso apparel to ogle his chest and rock hard abs – truly the man was like the embodiment of a Greek god – not to mention the arms rippling with strength, but this was definitely not to moment for that. It was in fact the furthest away from the right moment for such a thing.

"Can we talk?" he asked softly when Derek made no move to say or do anything else but stare at him with unreadable eyes.

The Beta man took a deep breath and let it out slowly before giving him a curt nod and stepping out of the way. The way he moved was so stiff, Stiles' own muscles hurt in sympathy. As Derek sat back down on his bed – a four poster bed with dark sheets which laid crumpled near the foot end – Stiles looked around slowly, taking in how the room looked.

It was rather spartan looking. There was a desk with some papers, a laptop, some pens and Derek's phone, which was currently charging. The desk itself stood right underneath the window, which looked out at the large garden. There was one single nightstand on the left of the bed and a trashcan on the other side. A wardrobe stood on the left of the desk and a sleeve of a green sweater was peeking through a gap in one of the doors.

The walls were painted a pale blue and bare except for a couple of picture frames with photos of the Hale family and Derek's siblings separately. The left wall was mainly dominated by a large bookcase, which was stuffed to the brim with all sorts of books: from encyclopaedias, to school textbooks, dictionaries, and novels – some even in other languages like Spanish and French.

The floor was completely hidden from view by a dark blue carpet which muffled his footsteps. The _click_ of the door as it fell shut was rather loud in the otherwise silent room.

"Why are you here, Stiles?" Derek asked quietly. He was sitting slightly hunched forwards, his hands dangling between his spread legs.

Stiles swallowed and offered him a wavering smile. His stomach churned uncomfortably as he said, "I just – I wanted to ask you something."

Derek frowned slightly. "Ask what?"

"Whether – and I know this is asking a lot of you, okay, I know that, but I figured I could still try, because I know I would keep kicking myself for the rest of my life if I didn't try and well, no pain, no gain, right? Although I guess that's not really the appropriate idiom in this case; maybe something along the lines of better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all, which sounds better in this situation and I - "

"Stiles."

"Right, right," Stiles jerked his head down and licked his lips, clasping his hands together behind his back in an attempt to stop moving them. "I wanted – I wanted to ask whether you can wait six months for me and then we could continue where we left off yesterday?" he asked hopefully, but winced when he saw the utter blank look on Derek's face.

"Or you know, if you don't want to wait, that's totally fine, I get it, I mean, six months is not exactly a short period of time even though both my dad and Scott keep claiming it is, but then again, one's my dad and the other's my best friend and they're both kind of obligated to cheer me up, so I'm not sure whether their reassurances actually count," he babbled, growing only more and more nervous with each second that passed with complete silence on Derek's part.

"You're with Raeken," Derek cut him off abruptly; his voice harsh and rough and his eyes flashed as his hands curled into fists.

"Only because he used the rules against us," Stiles muttered, frowning. "He didn't even make the effort to chase me himself. Do you really think I would have chosen him if it wasn't for those stupid rules? I mean, I thought I made it pretty clear yesterday that I was completely ready for you to get up in all of this." He waved at his body impatiently.

Hazel coloured eyes squinted up at him. "You don't want him?" he asked slowly, looking like he didn't dare to believe the Omega.

Stiles stared at him incredulously. "Are you insane? Why the hell would I want him? I barely know that guy!" he bristled, balling his fists. "I'm counting down the days until the six months are over and I can leave him in fact! Seriously, wasn't it clear enough yesterday that I want _you_?" He felt his cheeks heat up at the admission, but he kept his eyes stubbornly fixed on the older man. Clearly Derek was having some misconceptions about what had happened yesterday and it was up to him to fix those.

"I thought – I thought you'd prefer an Alpha," Derek said haltingly, looking away with a frown. "Because you thought I was an Alpha before you found out."

"Derek, I don't care whether you're an Alpha or a Beta or an Omega," Stiles said determined, making his voice as firm as possible so that there wouldn't be any misunderstandings now. "Yeah, I got confused by your scent and thought you were an Alpha, so what? I like the person Derek, not whatever Status you have. Trust me when I say that if I had any choice, I would choose you immediately."

The small, shy smile Derek gave him made something in him twinge. Feeling a bit more encouraged by the smile, Stiles dared to take a few steps closer. "So, I know six months is a long time and if you don't want to wait, I understand," he said softly, "but would you be willing to wait for me? I'd like nothing more than to become your mate if you still want me."

"I'm serious about you, Stiles," Derek said quietly and rose up, closing the remaining distance between them swiftly. "Six months is nothing. I can wait that long."

Stiles' head shot up and he stared at the other man with wide eyes, his hands shooting out to grab Derek's. "You really mean it?" he asked hopefully, heart hammering madly in his chest. "You'll wait for me?"

Strong, slightly larger hands squeezed his tenderly, entwining their fingers together and Stiles' heart skipped a beat at the warmth radiating against his hands.

Staring down into large, Bambi brown eyes, Derek smiled and raised their hands to drop a kiss on Stiles'. "What's six months?"

What was six months indeed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: I figured this would be a nice way to end the chapter; light fluff before the inevitable shit storm starts.
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: It's officially not a month yet since I posted the previous chapter LOL
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and the kudos!
> 
> Warnings: Hm, nothing really special that I can think of
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 4_

The ride to whatever place Theo had chosen went by in silence. As happy as Stiles had felt this morning after his talk with Derek, as uneasy he felt right now. He knew he had to power through this, try to make the best of it as he still had six months with Theo, but all he wished for was for the upcoming half year to go by as fast as possible.

The place they ended up at turned out to be the quant café which had opened its doors around a year ago. It was located in the better part of Beacon Hills and that reflected in the prices as well. Stiles had never set foot inside, both because it was on the other side of the town and because it was rather expensive and he knew better ways to spend his money.

A bell rang somewhere when they stepped inside, letting the glass door swing shut behind them. The café was already half filled with some couples, some girls chattering and letting out peals of laughter every once in a while and a businessman working on his laptop.

As they waited in line behind an elderly couple who were taking their time to decide what they wanted, Stiles looked around; curiosity peaking in spite of himself.

The walls were covered midway with wooden panels and the rest was painted a creamy white. The tables were round and made out of dark wood while the chairs were padded with a red cushion. The space was lit by fake candles hanging on the walls, though there was barely a need for those as daylight was spilling liberally through the large windows.

The display case was filled with all sorts of cakes and pastries and Stiles made a mental note never to bring his dad here. They did look rather tasty, though; he might as well try a slice of that chocolate strawberry cake now that he was here anyway.

"What do you want? My treat," Theo smiled when the elderly couple shuffled away with their coffees and apple cake.

Normally Stiles would insist on paying for his own stuff, but he still needed to refill his gas tank and the prices in front of the pastries and written on the chalkboard behind the perky barista were too high for his wallet – unless he wanted to get stranded somewhere.

Which he really didn't, so. Yeah.

"Just a coffee and a slice of that strawberry chocolate cake, please," he smiled strained, ignoring the way the barista's eyes were flicking between him and Theo intently as if she was trying to figure out whether she was serving a couple on a date or not.

Honestly if she wanted Theo, she was welcome to have him if she could convince the Council.

Theo picked up their tray before Stiles could and he nearly bit through his tongue in an effort to keep his sharp remark back. He might be an Omega, but he was perfectly capable of carrying a tray, thank you very much.

He needed to act at least civil towards Theo if he didn't want the Alpha to file a complaint with the Council, though, so instead he followed the other man towards a more secluded corner of the café, the furthest one away from the counter and the exit.

As soon as they had sat down across from each other, Stiles decided to no longer beat around the bush and asked bluntly, "So care to tell me why you chose me? No offense, but it's not like you and I have talked that much."

"Straight to the point, huh?" Theo chuckled and gently pushed Stiles' cup of coffee towards him, together with the dainty, white plate which held a thick slice of gooey chocolate cake with strawberry filling in the middle.

Stiles shrugged, cutting off a piece from the cake with his fork. "It's why we're here, right?" He gestured with the fork around them, nearly flinging the cake of it. "To get to know each other better?" He shoved the cake in his mouth before he could accidentally drop it on the floor. The flavours instantly burst apart in his mouth and it took him quite some restraint to not close his eyes and moan in bliss as the rich taste of chocolate filled his mouth.

Fuck, but this was some good cake. No wonder this place was popular despite the outrageous prices.

Theo was eyeing him oddly when Stiles looked at him, but as soon as he met the Omega's gaze, he shook his head and leant back in his chair. A faint rose hue dusted his cheeks all of a sudden and all the confidence that he'd exuded before seemed to evaporate just like that.

"It's true we haven't talked much," he admitted, sounding a bit chagrined.

_How about not at all?_ , Stiles wanted to suggest, but he kept his mouth shut for once. His dad would be so proud of him for showing so much damn restraint.

"But I've had my eye on you for quite some time now," Theo continued, playing with the spoon in his own cup of tea.

"Then why not just approach me at school? Why go through all the trouble of the Run?" Stiles questioned bemused. Banking it all on the Run seemed like a dangerous thing to do. If Derek had caught him sooner, then Theo wouldn't even had had a chance to exert his right as an Alpha.

His chest clenched at the thought of how close he'd come to being Derek's mate from the start and he forced himself to concentrate on what Theo was saying.

"You're going to think it's ridiculous," Theo laughed softly, embarrassment colouring his voice as he looked away, seeming more interested in the empty table next to them than in the man sitting across from him.

"Try me," Stiles retorted dryly.

"My parents – they met during the Run and they always told me and my little brother how happy that had made them. It made them feel like they were destined for each other," Theo said quietly; his eyes gaining a distant sheen. "They looked so in love every time they told us that story that I – I promised myself I would have a story like theirs too one day. That I'd catch my mate during the Run too and that we'd be as happy as my parents were."

Oh crap, now Stiles felt like such a dickhead and he stifled a groan. Of course Theo would have some kind of romantic reason behind approaching Stiles only during the Run instead of asking him out at school. _Of fucking course_. It couldn't have been something as easy as Theo just wanting to rub it in Derek's face.

It hadn't escaped his notice either that Theo was referring to his parents in the past tense and there could only be one reason for that.

Being in the same situation with his own mother, Stiles was aware that offering platitudes as "I'm sorry for your loss." would be useless and instead he steered the conversation back to a safer place. "I still think it would have been easier if you'd just asked me on a date at school, you know. You were taking a big risk there, trusting the Run and all that."

Theo shrugged and offered him an impish smile, his eyes glittering mischievously. "No risk, no gain, right? I just decided to trust on destiny." He winked, sipping from his tea.

It burned on Stiles' tongue to correct him and set him straight about the whole destiny bullshit when he hadn't done anything to really chase Stiles, but he knew he had to play nice for now. If he didn't at least pretend to try getting to know Theo better, then it would take him much longer than six months to be with Derek.

_Six months and then I'll be with Derek_ , he reminded himself before plastering a smile on his face and cutting off another piece from his cake. "So, what movies do you like?"

* * *

"His explanation is actually quite romantic, no?" Scott mused aloud, star fished across Stiles' bed. "That's not that bad, right?"

"So he isn't a complete douchebag, yay," Stiles retorted sarcastically, turning his swivel chair back and forth. The wheels squeaked a bit in protest, but they had been doing that for a couple of years now and they still hadn't given the ghost, so he'd be fine. Probably.

"Hey, it could be worse," Scott pointed out, turning his head to face his best friend.

Their holiday was nearly finished, but the two friends had only seen each other for the first time today since they had parted ways last week. The day after the Run, Scott and Kira had left to stay a couple of days in a cottage that Kira's family owned. The reception in that area was shit, so Stiles hadn't been able to talk to the Beta until today.

Scott had returned home late last night, but aside from the occasional yawn, he didn't show his exhaustion as he listened to Stiles rant about Theo.

"Maybe, but now I kind of feel like a dick." Stiles frowned, despising that feeling. He was self-aware enough to realise that yes, he could act like a dick a lot, but the majority of those times the other person really deserved his attitude.

Theo's reasoning for waiting until the Run made acting like a dick more difficult, given that his reason was attached to his parents' memory. Even Stiles wasn't such a jackass that he would make fun of a loved one's memory.

Sometimes having a conscience really sucked balls.

"Well, you didn't laugh right in his face," Scott spoke comfortingly, giving him an optimistic smile. "That has to count for something! It's not your fault you're not into him."

"Still doesn't make this whole thing easier," Stiles grimaced, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Maybe not," Scott allowed; his smile dimming a bit. "But it's only six months. After that you'll be free to be with Derek, so just concentrate on that, okay?"

"I guess," Stiles sighed before deciding to be a gracious best friend and asking, "So, what have you and Kira been up to when you were gone?"

Scott had listened to him ranting about Theo, the least he could do was listen to Scott wax poetry about his girlfriend for the umpteenth time – even if his gushing would last a whole lot longer than Stiles' whining had done.

But at least it would allow him to forget this whole situation with Theo for a moment, so there was that.

* * *

"You managed to catch Theo Raeken?"

The prim voice had him blinking as he resurfaced from his chemistry book and he looked up dazed. "Lydia?"

Lydia, the first and only woman he'd lost his heart to big time, stood in front of his table, looking down at him with an unimpressed look on her face. Not a surprise there.

Her strawberry blonde hair was done in loose curls today, which fell softly over her breasts. Her emerald green sweater made her eyes pop even more than her eyeliner did and her short, brown skirt showed off her long legs, which ended in a pair of high, black heels.

She was a vision of the gods and if Stiles hadn't realised a couple of years ago that they worked better as friends during a literature project – and that he would never have a shot with her – he'd probably be drooling all over himself at the sight of her.

As it was, he still swallowed a bit when she folded her arms underneath her chest, emphasising it a bit.

"You, Theo Raeken, spill," she ordered, before plunking her designer bag on the table and sliding into the chair across from him.

"How did you hear about that? School's barely started," he hissed, looking around quickly to check whether someone else was listening.

None of the others looked to be eavesdropping, though a guy – one a year younger than them – was gaping at Lydia.

"You think news like that won't travel fast?" she scoffed, throwing her hair backwards. "Please, Stiles, we're talking about Raeken here – be glad I'm the one confronting you about it and not someone else."

"There's nothing to talk about." Stiles scowled, putting the cap back on his marker. With Lydia intent on squeezing information out of him, there was no way he'd get any studying done until she was gone.

She'd also probably pierce him with her bright red painted sharp nails if she even thought for a second that she didn't hold his complete attention.

"You don't really expect me to believe that, hm?" The smile she gave him was dangerously sharp and for a very brief moment her eyes flashed blue; her animal side breaking through the surface.

"Okay look." He raised his hands in surrender and sighed. "If I had had my way, I wouldn't be with Theo at all. But those stupid Run rules have basically shackled me down for the next six months."

That had her calming down and she leant forwards; irritation making way for interest. "You're interested in someone else?"

"Yes, and he had actually caught me before Theo showed up," he replied sourly, running a hand through his hair. "He used his Alpha Status to get the other one to back down."

"The one you want is a Beta then?" she asked knowingly and there was a flicker of sympathy stirring in her eyes.

For all that she could be quite ruthless, she was capable of showing sympathy – if she deemed you worthy of it, that was. Fortunately for Stiles he had gone from being considered nothing but an annoying pest to an actual friend of hers. He still wasn't quite sure how he had managed to inflict that particular change.

Maybe it was because he had realised that she was more than just a pretty girl and once he had got to actually know her, he had acknowledged that they would never work out romantically. Not in this lifetime anyway.

"Yeah, he is," he admitted, twirling his marker between his fingers. "And you know how the rules of the Run work."

"I do," she murmured, crossing her arms on the table. Lucky girl that she was, she had been exempt from taking part of the Run, because she already had a mate. "You got an idea as to why Raeken is interested in you? I didn't hear about him approaching you before."

"That's because he didn't," he said wryly. "He told me it's because his parents met during the Run and he wanted a romantic tale like that too."

She tilted her head to the right. "So what are you going to do now?"

"Be civil to him, wait out the six months and then I'll go be with the one I'm actually interested in," he explained bluntly.

She pursed her lips. "Sounds like a decent plan."

"But? You sound like there's a 'but' coming," Stiles demanded, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Just be careful," she cautioned him, rising up from her seat. "You might not be interested in Raeken, but plenty of others are and there are quite a few of them who are not happy now."

"They're welcome to have him," he said irritated, throwing his marker down. "Be my guest, I'd say!"

She clucked her tongue. "Don't let them get to you," she advised him before picking up her bag again. "To be honest, though, you could have done worse than Raeken." She smirked and walked away; her high heels clacking sharply against the floor.

"I could do a whole lot better too," he muttered underneath his breath, grabbing another marker from his pencase. "What are you looking at?" He glared at the brunette who was practically gawking at him for some reason.

She glowered right back, but retreated behind a row of bookcases. He wondered whether she was one of those people Lydia had just warned him about. He couldn't think of any other reason why the girl – who he had never met before – would be staring at him now.

Well, if she and all the other fans of Raeken just kept it to foul looks, he figured he'd be fine.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Stiles asked blankly when Theo smoothly slipped into the seat next to him, placing his own lunch on the table.

The other man quirked an eyebrow, looking at him amused. "Sitting with my mate, what else do you think I'm doing?"

Seriously? Stiles frowned. "You do realise that we're not officially mates, right? Only after the six month period is over and we both agree to keep going." _Which I won't_ , he added mentally.

"Not officially, no, but this period is also meant to get to know each other better, remember?" Theo smiled, looking a bit smug. "Nothing wrong with sitting together at lunch and getting to know your friends, right?"

Stiles automatically caught Scott's eyes, who shrugged at him helplessly. Damn, he supposed he didn't really have a choice. Well, he supposed there was nothing wrong with getting to know each other better. Maybe he'd even be able to consider Theo a friend at the end of all this.

"I suppose so," he agreed reluctantly before waving haphazardly at Scott and Kira. "This is Scott, my best friend, and Kira, his mate. Guys, this is Theo."

"It's nice to meet you," Kira smiled, holding out her hand. Her long, dark hair was into two braids today and she absently swept them over her shoulders.

"Nice to meet you too," Theo smiled back, shaking her hand, before shaking Scott's. "So you two are mates, huh? From before the Run or during?"

"From before," Scott grinned, instantly adopting that stupid, dopey look he always had on his face nowadays whenever he had the chance to talk about Kira. "I met her five months ago when she brought in an injured kitten to the vet – I work part time there."

"And you instantly clicked?" Theo asked curiously, absently stirring his fork through his mashed potatoes.

Scott and Kira shared a look and they both grinned; Kira blushing even a little bit. They were being so ridiculously adorable, it made Stiles want to vomit.

"Pretty much, yeah," Kira told him, smiling widely. Her blush deepened a bit when Scott wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I kept going back there to check on the kitten and we started talking to each other and I don't know, it's just clicked, you know?"

"It really did," Scott agreed enthusiastically, dropping a kiss on her cheek.

Stiles wrinkled his nose at the sight, but couldn't find it in him to be really annoyed. His best friend was obviously really happy and Stiles was happy for him – but it wouldn't hurt if they toned down the whole lovey-dovyness just a bit. He felt like he was watching one of those ultra-cheesy romantic movies on repeat and let it be known that he'd never been quite fond of movies like that.

He also didn't want either of them to give Theo any stupid ideas like wrapping his arm around Stiles or god forbid, kissing him. All right, maybe he'd allow the arm part just to prove he wasn't actively sabotaging the whole process, but he drew the line at kissing. He still had the right to some boundaries.

"So you think you're going to stay mates?"

Theo's question drew Stiles out of his thoughts and he blinked, focusing back on the conversation going on around him.

"Yeah, I really think so," Scott answered and this time the dopey smile on his face was gone, replaced by a softer one aimed at Kira, who smiled equally as soft back, her dark eyes glittering.

Hm, maybe Stiles should be thinking about how he would write his best man's speech – because there was no way Scott wouldn't choose him as his best man – because clearly Scott and Kira were more serious about their relationship than he had expected.

Not that he had thought it was just a whim, because his best friend wasn't like that, but he hadn't realised they were this serious about their relationship either. He didn't think he could be blamed for that, though, considering they had only been together for four months so far.

"Must be nice to be so certain of that," Theo murmured and his tone was so wistful, Stiles didn't dare to look at him.

Fortunately for the Omega, Kira decided to be merciful – whether she did that on purpose or not, that didn't matter – and asked, "So how did your chemistry test go, Stiles?"

He gave her a deadpan look, even if he was secretly happy about the change in subject, and replied sarcastically, "It went amazing, how could it not with Harris as a teacher?"

She grimaced, wrinkling her nose. "That bad?"

Harris was like the bogeyman out of the scary stories. Every student, no exception, hated his guts and the feeling was quite mutual they were all sure of that. Harris seemed to thrive on the misery of his students and appeared to be in a competition with himself about how hard he could make each test.

If you loved chemistry before you had him as your teacher, you would develop a burning hatred for it just because it became associated with Harris. He was just that miserable and awful as a teacher.

Frankly Stiles wasn't certain how the man was still working here, given the fact that many people complained his tests were unfair and impossibly difficult on purpose and the failing grade was exceptionally high compared to the other classes.

Why the man had even accepted a job as a teacher when he clearly loathed the profession would remain a mystery for the ages.

"I should normally pass it," Stiles said, pursing his lips. "I studied with Lydia and when I went over the answers with her afterwards, she had the same ones, so."

Nobody dared to fail Lydia Martin, not even the infamous Harris. Meaning if Lydia passed the test, Stiles would too, given that they had written down the same answers. Even Harris wasn't so stupid as to deliberately fail a student while passing another one when the proof was literally there on paper. Not even the principal would be on his side then.

Scott groaned miserably, thumping his head down on the table. "I probably failed so badly," he mumbled against the sticky surface of the table.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Kira soothed him, running her fingers through his hair.

Stiles snorted and smirked, "Yeah, it will be considering he was distracted when he was supposed to be studying."

He had even warned the Beta boy that letting himself get distracted by his girlfriend's messages would come back to bite him in the butt, but of course Scott hadn't wanted to listen to him.

Scott looked up briefly to glare at him. "Some kind of best friend you are," he complained and sat up with a grunt. "Mom's going to kill me if I fail this test."

"Should have thought about that sooner," Stiles hummed, ignoring the way Theo was looking back and forth between him and Scott with an amused look on his face.

"I'll just have to make it up with the exams," Scott said determined, nodding to himself.

"Good luck with that!" Stiles couldn't help but snicker, because he knew all too well just how abysmal Scott's marks were for chemistry. He'd have to study day and night, not be in contact with Kira at all, and pray for a goddamn miracle all at once if he even hoped to have a shot at passing the class this year.

"You're supposed to be supportive, Stiles," Scott complained, grimacing. He plopped his elbow down on the table, narrowly missing his plate. "You're planning to do something before we have to start studying?"

Stiles opened his mouth to suggest they could hold a game night before they had to buckle down to study, when Theo suddenly placed his arm around his shoulder, tugging him flush against the Alpha's body.

Stiles could only freeze and stare at him in shock as he said grinning, "I thought I could take Stiles out to the park. We might as well have some fun times before the exams take over."

"The park? Oh, that sounds like a great idea! We all could get together and play some frisbee," a female voice suddenly piped up behind Stiles. "What do you think, babe? I think it's a great idea to relieve some stress before the exams."

"Whatever you want."

There was no mistaking the way Theo stiffened next to him and when Stiles twisted around in his chair, forcing Theo to remove his arm, he blinked owlishly at the three people standing right in front of him.

Isaac nodded at him politely, his ever present scarf wrapped around his neck even in this warm weather, and Boyd inclined his head silently. The big muscled guy never had been particularly loquacious. Holding his hand was his girlfriend, a blonde bombshell with bright red painted lips and a dangerous grin playing around her mouth, who listened to the name Erica.

As the four at the table stared at them, Erica winked and promptly sat down next to Stiles, tugging Boyd with her. Isaac followed easily, sitting down next to Scott.

Turning around to face Theo, she asked brightly, "So when do you want to meet up? It'll have to be somewhere next week, though, given that the exams start the week after."

And as Stiles could practically hear Theo gritting his teeth together, all he could think of was, _What the hell is Derek's posse doing here?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: I'm taking quite some liberties with when exactly the exams take place and when school ends for them. Just an FYI.
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: I actually managed to finish this one last night - a miracle!
> 
> Thank you for the comments and the kudos! We're so close to 300 kudos already! O_O
> 
> Warnings: hm, a scheming Erica I suppose
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 5_

Stiles still had yet to understand the whole situation between Erica, Boyd, Isaac and Derek. While the same age as Stiles, the three had been hanging out with Derek since they were thirteen and either they had stayed in contact with the older man during his absence or they didn't hold it against him for disappearing for three years and had resumed their friendship just like that.

Whichever it was, the three of them had hung out with Derek so often in the past that a lot of people had started to consider them as a pack of their own. With none of them being an Alpha, forming an actual one was not possible of course, but the fact remained that the four of them seemed to create a pack of their own. Some people were speculating that Isaac, Erica and Boyd would become part of the Hale pack soon.

In spite of their friendship with Derek, Stiles had never spoken much with them before. They formed their own group and Stiles had Scott; both little groups didn't interact with each other.

Until today apparently.

The entire lunch period was spent with Erica and Isaac discussing other games they could play in the park and what kind of lunch to pack and who would bring which snacks, with Scott, Kira and Stiles occasionally chipping in. Boyd was his usual silent self while Theo seemed to be brooding, giving terse replies whenever someone asked him something.

Stiles honestly had no idea what to think of the sudden additions to their table. Why were those three suddenly so adamant about meeting up in a park with them? They had never interacted much with each other before, so what had changed?

He had to admit that a part of him was relieved, even happy with their intrusion, though. They – well, mainly Erica – had managed to completely derail Theo's plans for what Stiles assumed was supposed to have been their first 'date'. He realised he wouldn't get a lucky break like this every time, but he was going to jump on this chance when it was presented to him – even if he was slightly weirded out by the unexpected presence of the three others.

But hey, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth!

The bell ringing shrilly announced the end of the lunch period and at once the cafeteria was filled with the loud noise of chairs scraping backwards and trays being discarded into the appropriate carts.

"Stiles, I was thinking," Theo started, but Erica's hand snagging Stiles backwards had him abruptly shutting up and narrowing his eyes.

"Sorry, Theo – your name is Theo, right?" she smiled, linking her arm with Stiles' and pressing up closely against his shoulder. "But I'm going to have to borrow Stiles for just a little bit longer. I still need to give him his mathematics notes back and they're at my locker. It was nice talking to you!" She waved at him cheerfully and dragged Stiles away with a surprising amount of strength, ignoring his spluttering.

"I'm going ahead, Stiles," Scott called out, his arm resting around Kira's shoulders, and Stiles rolled his eyes, knowing that his best friend was going to use this time to make out with his girlfriend – even if they were supposed to be in class in ten minutes.

Whatever, if Scott wasn't going to save him from Erica's claws, he wasn't about to hash out an excuse to the teacher if his buddy ended up being late again.

"I never gave you any notes," Stiles told Erica flatly, aware of Boyd and Isaac following closely behind them.

She slowed down a bit and gave him an unimpressed look, jerking her head towards the doors which were falling shut behind them. "You want to go back to your lovely Alpha there? Be my guest." Her smile this time was razor sharp and her nails dug into his arm just a little bit firmer.

"He's not my Alpha," he muttered, looking away. "Still want to know why you're dragging me away, though."

Should he become concerned? Had he somehow pissed them off – even though he wouldn't know how he could have possibly done that, seeing as again, they had never really interacted before – and were they going to extract some revenge now? Shit, maybe he should have stayed behind with Theo after all.

Surprisingly Erica didn't speak until they reached her locker; some students were straggling at the other end of the hallway, but for the most part the corridor was empty. She released him, but given her position and that of the other two boys, Stiles was basically stuck against the lockers with no way out.

Yeah, this definitely wasn't giving him any flashbacks of Jackson shoving him inside a locker several times when they had been thirteen years old – that year Jackson had particular excelled at being a douche.

"Relax, okay?" she huffed, opening her locker and rummaging through it. "You look like we're about to kill you and hide your corpse somewhere. We're just going to talk, geez."

"You have to admit that this whole thing," Stiles gestured between them four wildly, "isn't exactly normal. Excuse me for being weirded out right now! Since when do we talk?!"

"Since apparently you've caught Derek's eye," Isaac murmured; throwing a wary glance at the three girls who were loudly discussing a date one of them had had this weekend. "And if you're going to be part of the pack someday, we might as well start talking now, hm?"

Stiles choked. "Part of the pack? Who told you that?" he squeaked, his heartbeat quickening, and his stomach suddenly twisting upside down. He'd thought he and Derek had been discreet during their last conversation! There was no way anyone else could have known what they had been discussing – unless Derek had opened his mouth? Why would he do that, though? He knew they couldn't risk anyone knowing what Stiles was planning to do after six months. They'd accuse him of not treating Theo fairly and this whole bullshit would start all over again!

What the fuck had Derek been thinking?!

"Calm down," Boyd said quietly, crossing his arms. "Derek didn't tell us if that's what you're worried about."

"Then why the hell are you assuming - "

"We could smell you on him after the Run," Isaac interrupted him, grimacing. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "He didn't want to talk to us, said it was between you and him. We figured we'd talk to him later, but then Peter let it slip that you stopped by last week and we got curious when Derek seemed happier all of a sudden." He shrugged before smirking and adding, "Well, as happy as he can look at least. He was less broody so that was our answer."

"We kept pestering him until he told us why you're not with him now," Erica continued, looking completely unapologetic that she had basically bullied her friend into confessing. "We considered getting rid of Theo at first, but that's bound to get messy and it's not like either of us have an in with the police." She winked, pulling a small, dark blue bag out of her locker.

Stiles wished he could be certain that she was joking, but her heartbeat was rather steady and there was a dangerous glint in her eyes. Christ, what kind of people did Derek hang out with?

"So, we figured – "

" _She_ mostly decided," Boyd said dryly.

"- that we would help you out whenever possible," she continued serenely, ignoring her boyfriend's interruption. "I guess you still have to go on some dates with Raeken," she grimaced, wrinkling her nose, "but we can still crash some of those!"

"You're going to get in trouble if he suspects something," Stiles warned her, eyeing the bag warily.

Flippantly she waved her hand and snorted. "There's no rule that says that you can't meet up with friends." She raised an eyebrow and said mischievously, "And who doesn't want to get to know their future mate's friends?"

"I'm pretty sure it's going to go wrong at some point," Stiles sighed, running a hand through his hair, "but whatever. I appreciate it, I guess. What's in the bag?"

The wide grin on her face, the amused glint in Boyd's eyes and the smirk lingering around Isaac's lips had him instantly suspicious. Nothing good could come out of those looks.

"Consider this an early ' _Welcome to the pack_ ' sort of gift," she chirped, holding out the bag, waving it back and forth insistently when Stiles didn't take it immediately.

Still incredibly wary of whatever could cause those reactions, he refused to look inside the bag and frowned. "What's in it?" he repeated. The bag was incredibly light and he was starting to wonder whether this wasn't some sort of prank with the bag being completely empty.

"Derek's shirt," she smiled impishly and his mouth dropped open in shock. "He wore it the entire day and night, especially for you! We thought you might appreciate the scent of your future mate." She swiftly leant forwards and pecked his cheek. "If you want to return the favour, I'm sure Derek wouldn't mind," she purred in his ear before pulling away and slamming her locker shut. "We'll see you later, Stiles!"

She basically skipped away, Boyd walking calmly next to her while Isaac meandered behind them, his hands stuck in his pockets.

Looking for all the world like they hadn't just given Stiles a shirt of their packmate. A shirt which was apparently soaked in Derek's scent.

And Stiles was holding it. Right now. They had given him one of Derek's shirts.

What the fuck? How was this his life even?

He stood there frozen, his mind still attempting to compute what had just happened, when the bell rang for the last time in a rather taunting way.

Reminding him that he was now officially late to his history class.

Fuck.

* * *

He told himself he'd hide the bag somewhere in the depths of his closet, because well – it was _Derek's shirt._ What the hell else was he supposed to do with it? Why had he even got it? He'd really like to ask Derek whether he even knew a shirt of his was gone, because he wouldn't put it past Erica to simply steal one, but what was he going to do _if_ the older man was aware of it?

Somehow the idea of Derek deliberately giving a shirt was more embarrassing to contemplate than the idea of having to tell the oblivious Beta that his packmate had stolen a shirt and given it to him.

Staring at the bag in his hand, he suddenly wondered why the hell he wasn't driving over to the Hales to give the shirt back. Like, what was stopping him? There was no reason for him to keep the shirt. If they had been mates, then sure, Stiles could have worn the shirt and let their scents mix together, but clearly he couldn't do that. That would be …

Just no, he couldn't do that. That would be really wrong.

So he just had to get into his car with the bag and drop it off, explaining to Derek that Erica had given it to him for god knew what reason. Easy. Then Derek could tell off Erica and Stiles wouldn't be bothered by any other weird gifts the girl might have in mind.

Fuck, he really hoped this would be the only weird gift.

The material of the bag gleamed in the light and with a groan, Stiles dropped down on his bed; the mattress squeaking underneath his weight. He really should give the shirt back, but …

A part – larger than he liked to admit – didn't want to return the bag. That part was thrilled with the knowledge that he had something of Derek with him – and god, since when had he turned so creepy? – and didn't want to let go of it. But what could he do with it? Even if Derek's scent wasn't infused in it, the size of the shirt alone would be a big enough clue that it wasn't one of Stiles, so he could hardly wear it without making Theo suspicious.

The last thing he needed was for Theo to get suspicious or feel offended.

Fuck it, he'd just stow the bag away in the closet and forget about it for now. If Derek ended up asking after it, he could always give it back then. No harm done.

Just to be sure, though, he stuffed it into the deepest corner and covered it with some old sweaters and shirts for good measure. There, now nobody would be able to find it. Not that many people outside of his dad and Scott would come into his room, but better safe than sorry, right?

His phone buzzing obnoxiously loud on the edge of his desk alerted him to the fact that he had an incoming text and after closing the closet door, he crossed his room to snatch the device off the desk. The screen was lit up, announcing that Lydia had texted him and he pursed his lips.

Lydia texting him after school was finished could only mean one of two things: either she needed a study buddy – which wouldn't be that farfetched with the exams coming up – or worse, she wanted to go shopping and her boyfriend couldn't accompany her because of his shift at the station.

"Damn it, Lydia," he sighed when he opened the message and saw it was the latter of the two options – or the evil option as he liked to call it, because while he really loved that girl, shopping with her was absolute torture.

As if she had a sixth sense, his phone started buzzing once more, filling the room with the Batman tune, as her name flashed across the screen. Pulling a face, but knowing better than to ignore her, he accepted the call.

"Do I really have to?" he whined before she could even get a word in.

Lydia huffed. "Jordan got the late shift today and I need a dress for the graduation party, so yes, you really have to."

"We still have to do the exams, why the hell are you already talking about dresses?"

"Please, as if I'm going to fail," she replied haughtily, but well, she had the right to, given her perfect marks.

"Point taken," he allowed. "But you're still a couple of weeks too early."

"Stiles, sweetheart, do you really think it's a smart idea to wait until right before the party?" she asked condescendingly. "Now's the perfect time because I still have plenty of choice and there won't be hordes of other girls getting in my way."

He guessed she had a point there as well; still didn't mean he wanted to go shopping with her. "Who says I don't have plans with Scott?"

"He's on a date with Kira; you'll be lucky if you'll even get a text tonight," she answered curtly.

He hated how much she knew. "Eugh, fine," he gave in reluctantly, shoving his feet back into his shoes. "But only for two hours, okay? I've got other things to do than carrying your stuff around."

* * *

They ended up staying at the mall for four hours, because Stiles was a whipped idiot who couldn't refuse his strawberry haired queen.

Fortunately she did find her dress – a deep green strapless one which flared out around her legs and had small glittering stones embedded into the fabric, making her look like a sea goddess rising up from the ocean – and was merciful enough to decide to find an appropriate pair of shoes on another day.

Stiles was pretty sure his own feet wouldn't have survived if he had to visit every damn shoe store in that mall. The things he did for his friends, honestly.

* * *

The rest of the week, Erica, Boyd and Isaac kept joining them during the lunch period, cheerfully discussing their plans to visit the park next week. They seem to take their decision to interfere as much as possible between Stiles and Theo quite seriously, because every time Theo attempted to take him aside – maybe to ask him out on a date without the others crashing it – one of the three was always there, seemingly popping out of nowhere, and coincidentally always needing Stiles' help with something.

That got Theo visibly frustrated, but he backed off every time even if it was with obvious great reluctance. Stiles was actually starting to feel a bit sorry for the guy; if he was really interested in the Omega, it had to be incredibly irritating to have all his attempts at asking out Stiles on a proper date thwarted by the same people every time.

He didn't feel sorry enough to tell them to back off, though. That most likely made him a douche – it definitely wouldn't make him win the 'Mate of the Year' award any time soon, that was for sure – but he wasn't looking forward to an actual date with Theo. He could handle becoming friends, he guessed, but there was no doubt Theo would want more than that.

The longer Stiles could push off the moment that he had to go on an actual date with the Alpha, the better.

* * *

"Did you get those vanilla cookies?" Dad sounded distracted on the other end of the phone, most likely looking through a file while he was calling him.

Stiles rolled his eyes, placing the grocery bags on the ground for a moment so that he could open the trunk. "Of course I didn't; you know too much sugar isn't good for you," he scolded the older man, hauling the bags one by one inside the car.

"There's nothing wrong with the occasional treat," Dad grumbled.

"No, there isn't," Stiles agreed before continuing, "But the problem is that I know it won't stop with just one cookie when you start, dad. I've seen the evidence!"

"I didn't eat that box all at once!" Dad protested. "That took me at least two months to finish!"

"Uhuh, you're still not getting any cookies," Stiles retorted unimpressed.

"What kind of son are you?" Dad asked put out, making the younger man roll his eyes.

"A son who likes his dad healthy and alive," he shot back. "Since when is that a crime?"

"Since that means I can't even – what?" Dad cut himself off and then his voice became muted as if he was covering the phone.

Guessing that someone had just entered the sheriff's office, Stiles waited patiently until the older man was done discussing whatever needed to be discussed and slammed the trunk shut once the last bag was in it. While he wouldn't get his dad any cookies, he wasn't entirely cruel; he'd got him some lean steak to enjoy for dinner tonight, but he'd keep that one a secret until his dad was home.

"Sorry, son, but I've got to go. There's been a breakthrough in Mrs Sanders' case, so I'll see you tonight, okay?" Dad apologised when he came back.

"It's fine; Scott might come over this afternoon."

"Sure, no problem. Tell him I said hi."

"Will do." They hung up and he stuffed his phone in his pocket, making his way to the driver's side. As he opened the door – well, more like wrenched it open, because this door had been quite stubborn for the last couple of weeks – a voice calling out to him stopped him from getting behind the wheel.

"Stiles?"

Heart skipping a beat, he turned around and a grin automatically spread across his face when Derek approached him, having parked his car a couple of feet away. "Delegated to do the grocery shopping?" he asked, knowing that the Hales always sent a different person each week to buy the groceries. Cora had once offhandedly mentioned that their mother had decided on that as a way to spread the chores between them all.

Smiling wryly, Derek nodded, halting in front of him. "Yeah, apparently it's my turn this week. Got a whole list."

"The list that long you need to take your mother's car to carry it all back?" Stiles asked amused, nodding at the giant white SUV which belonged to Talia.

"Yeah, celebrating a cousin's birthday tomorrow, so we're stocking up," Derek replied and shrugged. "How you're doing?"

The Omega raised an eyebrow. "The exams are coming up soon, what do you think?"

The wide grin stretching across Derek's face had Stiles gripping the door handle a bit tighter. Fuck, a smile like this one on that face should be fucking illegal.

"Like you need to worry about your grades," Derek teased, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. His dark green shirt stretched out across his muscles and Stiles forced himself not to stare at the way the cloth was plastered against that hard chest.

"Still doesn't mean I'm looking forward to them," he said, pursing his lips.

"I don't think a lot of people look forward to those."

Stiles uttered an agreeing noise and hesitated for a brief moment, wondering whether he should really bring it up or not. In the end he decided, screw it, and blurted out, "Do you know Erica gave me one of your shirts last Monday?" Instantly he clamped his mouth shut, but the damage was done and he flushed brightly when the Beta quirked a heavy eyebrow.

He really just had to run his mouth, huh? Couldn't have just kept quiet about it until Derek had mentioned it. What was he supposed to say when the other man asked him why he'd kept it for so long instead of returning it immediately? God, this was so embarrassing!

The atmosphere between them changed subtly, becoming charged with a particular sort of tension which grew worse when Derek leant forwards, coming so close all Stiles had to do was tilt his head a bit in order for their lips to meet. That thought only had his cheeks reddening even more and he stood there rigidly, eyes wide, while multicoloured eyes darkened a tad.

"I know," Derek murmured; his voice so low it sent shivers down Stiles' spine. "I gave it to her."

That … Oh shit, wow, he hadn't – hadn't expected that. That was – how was he supposed to react now? His brain seemed to go in immediate emergency lockdown, leaving him to stare at the older man like an idiot as he desperately scrambled to come up with something to say to that revelation, but naturally today was the day his ability to blabber had decided to abandon him.

Brain down, blabber ability zero – Stiles was out.

"I know you can't wear it yet, but I thought it might help a bit to get you through these six months," Derek went on, his voice still low and his eyes intense when they locked onto whiskey brown ones.

"That's – that's quite thoughtful of you," Stiles managed to bring out in a squeak, a part of him fearing he'd be permanently flushed red after this conversation.

"That's me," Derek hummed and then apparently decided to be merciful because he pulled back; his face losing some intensity. "I'll see you around, Stiles," he said abruptly before turning around and striding away, as if nothing weird had happened between them.

"Eh yeah, I'll see you around," Stiles answered somewhat belated, feeling dazed as he finally slid behind the wheel, slamming the door shut behind him.

Staring at the black rubber peeling off the steering wheel, he silently asked the universe, _What the hell just happened?_

The universe did not answer him, surprise, surprise.

* * *

"Is everyone here?" Scott looked around curiously when Isaac sauntered up towards them.

It was Friday afternoon, a couple of days before the exams would start, and they had all agreed to meet at the entrance of the park to play some frisbee and have a late picknick to let off some steam before they would be forced to dive into their books for the next upcoming weeks.

With ' _agreed_ ' Stiles meant that Erica had basically decided everything and hadn't given anyone else the chance to really object. That was why Theo was standing next to him rather stiffly, obviously still pissed that Erica had basically hijacked his would be first date with Stiles.

Their group eventually turned out to be made of Stiles, Scott, Kira, Theo, Erica, Boyd, Isaac and to Stiles' surprise, Lydia as well. She was dressed like she was on her way to the catwalk instead of heading out for an afternoon of fun with friends, but he didn't think she was planning on participating in any of the games they might come up. Why she'd decided to join them was a mystery to him, though, and when he asked her, she'd refused to answer him, bar telling him that she was just looking for an afternoon to wind down with some people before she'd start studying.

It wasn't like he minded her presence, though. As long as Jackson wouldn't come too, he was fine with whoever decided to tag along.

"Nope, still waiting for one person to arrive," Erica answered, popping her bright pink bubble gum. She was completely wrapped around Boyd, her arms slung around his neck, and nuzzled his cheek occasionally. "He should be here soon, though."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Stiles asked curiously, "Oh, who else did you invite?"

She winked at him but before she could reply, the sound of a car parking nearby had her perking up. "Speak of the devil," she said fondly, unwrapping herself from Boyd. "He's here."

Curiosity piqued, Stiles turned around and –

Came face to face with Derek.

Derek, who was staring at Theo, who was staring right back at him with a completely blank look on his face, but there was no mistaking the tension in his body.

Stiles could only pray this supposed friendly gathering wouldn't end in any bloodshed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: Who doesn't love a scheming Erica? :D
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me!
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Consider this the final set up for the story; starting from this point the story will slowly grow darker. Also yes, the whole exam period is probably not how it goes in real life in the US, but bear with me, please ^^;
> 
> Thank you for the comments and the kudos! I'm very happy to see that this story has already surpassed 300 kudos!
> 
> Warnings: some minor time skips, but nothing really bad that needs a warning
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 6_

"Have you completely lost your mind?" Stiles hissed as they all made their way deeper into the park.

Erica raised an eyebrow. "What? You're not happy to have all your friends here?" she asked innocently, but her eyes gleamed and a dangerous smile played around his lips.

"Cut the bullshit, Erica," he said in a low voice, eyeing Derek and Theo warily. Kira was talking with Derek while Lydia had sunk her claws into Theo for some reason. They were discussing something seriously judging by the looks on their faces, but at least it kept Theo from reacting badly to Derek's presence.

"What the hell were you thinking? This is just asking for trouble," he continued agitatedly, running a hand through his hair.

Yeah, he hadn't minded a 'buffer' in the form of his friends, but having Derek join? That was just too risky, given how much Theo obviously didn't enjoy the Beta's presence. He hadn't said anything to Derek when the man had joined them, but one had to be completely blind to not notice the way Theo had stiffened. He already hadn't been in the greatest of moods to have Stiles' friends join them – just how was he going to react to Derek's presence?

"Relax, it's just a gathering of friends," she said, rolling her eyes. "It'll only be a big deal if you make one out of it."

"I am so sorry I don't want any blood being shed today," Stiles muttered snarky.

"Now you're exaggerating. Everything will be fine," she retorted flippantly, smacking his shoulder before skipping to the front to cosy up to Boyd again.

He was left glowering at her back, questioning silently why he'd ever thought accepting her offer to help had been a good idea. She seemed to thrive on stirring trouble and while in general Stiles was prone to stirring the occasional trouble as well, he could only hope that trouble wouldn't find them today.

Scott popping up next to him had him tearing his gaze away from Erica. "What's up?"

Scott grinned, wrapping his arm around Stiles' neck. "Just claiming you as my teammate already if we end up playing a game of frisbee," he stated before pausing and adding thoughtfully, "Well you and Kira of course."

"Of course," Stiles snorted, because Scott couldn't not play with his girlfriend in his team. It didn't matter to Stiles, though; in fact he was rather happy about it. For all that Kira came across as demure and sweet, she was absolutely vicious and unforgiven when it came to sports and he'd rather have her on his team than against him.

"Look, I know you're not entirely happy with what Erica did," Scott said, growing serious and lowering his voice so that others wouldn't overhear them. "But what's the worst that can happen? We're in a public place; nobody's going to start a fight here."

"I hope you're right," Stiles mumbled darkly. He definitely didn't want to explain to his dad why a fight had broken out in a park of all places.

"Come on, you guys! Any slower and it'll be nightfall by the time we get to our spot!" Erica called out and set the example by quickening her pace, tugging Boyd along with her.

There was some huffing and eye rolling but in the end everyone hurried up; all eager to enjoy their last free moments before exams would demand their full attention.

* * *

Their get together went rather … well actually. It surprised Stiles, because he'd expected at least one skirmish to happen, but everyone remained quite civil – and with everyone he meant Derek and Theo. The both of them stayed away from one another the whole time they were at the park, even during their little picnic, but they also didn't antagonise each other, so Stiles counted that as a major win.

Even if it was rather awkward to be sitting right between them with both of them ignoring each other.

But whatever, he'd prefer them ignoring each other over them beating the crap out of each other. The deputies of his dad would have a field day if they got called to a scene like _that_.

When the sun was slowly descending in the sky, late afternoon inching into early evening, Erica dragged Theo, Scott and Isaac with her to buy ice cream from a local vendor who'd set up shop near the fountain. Lydia had settled herself on the blanket underneath a large tree, still keeping to the shade despite the hour and talking with Kira about their dresses for the graduation party. Boyd was lying a bit further on the grass, seemingly asleep.

Stiles had plopped down underneath the shade of another tree, slurping his soda through a straw. He'd given his ice cream order to Scott and hoped his friend wouldn't forget about it. Ah well, even if he had, Stiles was pretty sure Theo had been listening when he'd given his order, so he'd get his ice cream either way he supposed.

A large shadow was cast over him and he looked up, squinting a bit. His heart skipped a beat at the sight of Derek offering a faint smile before he dropped down next to him, their thighs brushing against each other. It was the first time they sat so close today and Stiles was quite aware of the warm limb against his.

"Hey," he said stupidly, letting the straw slip from between his lips.

"Hey," Derek said amused before he uttered a soft sigh and glanced away, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, I'm sorry about Erica, okay? I didn't want to come because I thought it'd make things awkward with Raeken, but you know how she is." He grimaced, looking put out. She'd probably badgered him until he'd finally given in; Erica was not someone to take no for an answer.

Stiles shrugged. "Hey, no worries. I figured this was all her idea," he said, bumping his shoulder against the older man's. "Besides, it's not so bad. There hasn't been any maiming or mangling so I'm quite happy."

Derek snorted. "How uncivil do you think we are?" he muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Says the one who growled when Isaac wanted to take the last sandwich," Stiles retorted unimpressed.

"He'd already eaten three more than I had," Derek mumbled petulantly, as if that was enough justification to growl at an unofficial pack mate.

"The greedy bastard," Stiles said mock outraged and snickered when Derek bared his teeth at him. Mirth dying out, he pursed his lips and then admitted softly, "I'm glad you came, though."

"Yeah, me too," Derek said after a short pause before he shifted and stood up. "They're here with the ice cream."

Turning his head, Stiles saw the four of them approaching their little group. Unsurprisingly Erica was only carrying hers and Boyd's order which she handed over to him with a pick on his lips when he sat up. Scott carried the ice cream for himself, Kira and Lydia, while Isaac pressed a cone with three vanilla scoops in Derek's hand.

"And my ice cream?" Stiles raised an eyebrow when Scott was left empty handed save for his own order.

Smiling sheepishly, Scott jerked his thumb at Theo who stood a bit behind, holding two ice creams. "Couldn't carry another one, so he ended up carrying it."

"Huh." Standing up, he took a few seconds to brush some stray grass blades off his shorts before he went over to Theo.

The Alpha held out a cone which had scoops of strawberry, chocolate and pistachio balancing precariously on it. "I don't think it has started melting yet, but I wouldn't wait too long with eating it either," he said good-naturedly. His own cone had one scoop of vanilla and one with chocolate.

"Thanks," Stiles smiled, starting on the deliciously icy cold treat immediately. The sun wasn't that hot yet, but that didn't mean the ice wouldn't start melting soon. Noticing Theo wandering off, he stood there for a moment longer, hesitating before going after the other boy.

He thought he could feel eyes lingering on his back, but he paid no attention to them and instead followed Theo to the shade of an old willow, several feet away from the group.

Theo seemed a bit surprised when he came to stand next to him. "You didn't have to follow me," he remarked cautiously; his eyes flickering back and forth between Stiles and the others. "You can sit with your friends, I don't mind."

"True, but you're not really comfortable around them, right?" Stiles commented, keeping his voice purposefully light.

It still made Theo stiffen and his face turned blank. "I don't have anything against them," he said in a neutral voice. "I just – don't really know them yet. Besides, they're your friends – I can hardly hope to date you if I can't get along with your friends, no?"

"I know you don't have anything against them, but I guess they did kind of crash what was supposed to be a date, right?" Stiles said and a stab of guilt shot through him. It was irrational, especially because he didn't want to date Theo in the first place and certainly didn't mind the buffer his friends provided, but looking at Theo doing his best to have a good time with people he didn't know just because he wanted to date Stiles … Yeah, that did make a small part in him feel guilty.

Damn it, he hadn't expected to actually feel guilty about his friends crashing this supposed date.

"It's fine," Theo said hastily, waving his hand. "It would have been rather weird to have a first date right before the exams anyway. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Nothing weird about that," Stiles muttered, looking away with a slight frown. Some of the pistachio ice cream started dripping onto his hand and he quickly licked it off before it could make his whole hand sticky.

"I was thinking that maybe – maybe we could go on a date after the exams are over?" Theo suggested hesitatingly. "We'll have a week until graduation then and it's not like we'll still have classes to attend."

"Sounds good," the Omega mumbled, attacking the chocolate ice cream. His tongue and mouth were slowly growing numb because of the cold treat and he ran his tongue over his lips.

"And if you want … We could study together?"

When Stiles turned to look at him, the Alpha hastily raised both hands, almost dropping his ice cream onto the grass. "Just studying, I promise. Nothing else," he smiled wryly.

In spite of himself, Stiles snorted amused, somehow managing to get ice onto his nose, and replied, "Yeah sure, we can study together – that is if you don't mind Lydia occasionally crashing our little study party."

Glancing at the red head, Theo muttered, "I don't mind. I don't think she would let my opinion deter her, though."

Well, at least he'd figured out how Lydia worked; that was something. "Yeah no, she wouldn't let that stop her," Stiles confirmed, throwing the girl a quick smile when she briefly glanced at him. She raised an eyebrow before turning back to Kira and Scott.

Their ice cream was finished by the time the sun had set low in the sky, painting everything in deep orange, red and yellow. It wouldn't be long anymore before dusk would settle in completely and the park would close for the night.

Erica waited until everyone was gathered together again before retrieving a frisbee from the bag she'd packed, holding it up with a triumphant smirk plastered across her deep pink lips. "Anyone up for a last game of frisbee?"

* * *

Exam period started out with a relatively easy subject, history, and as long as Stiles didn't let himself get distracted by a million of other subjects he'd browsed through on Wikipedia during the weekend, he figured he'd easily ace that particular exam. It was literally just remembering dates, some important people's names, and events; nothing complicated about that. Sure, some events might need to be compared with each other in an essay form, but at least it didn't deal with formulas like chemistry.

Chemistry ended up being his fourth exam and surprisingly his study session with Theo – sessions which had started after their first exam – turned out to be quite helpful in this case.

"Can't we just ask Danny to hack into the school system and retrieve the chemistry exams?" Stiles suggested whiningly, dropping his head onto the dining table with a loud groan.

"Or you could quit your whining and actually study," Lydia reminded him coolly and the sharp edge of her pencil was hovering dangerously close to his vulnerable hand.

"Didn't you pass all the tests before?" Theo asked confused, twirling a pen between his slender fingers. He was sat across from Stiles and occasionally his foot would bump against the Omega's leg whenever he moved.

"Yes, but Harris hates me," Stiles bemoaned, refusing to lift his head up even when Lydia poked him warningly in his arm with her pen.

"He might hate your guts, but he won't be able to do anything if you get perfect grades, which I know you are capable of, so sit up or so help me god, Stiles," she hissed, narrowing her eyes. The sunlight falling through the window set her curly hair alight, making it appear as if she was surrounded by flames. Somehow that picture combined with her hissing tone came across as ominous, like she would attack him any moment now.

Knowing how on edge she became during exam periods – which was so weird, because she was the smartest in the whole school, bar Stiles, and there was absolutely no question that she would graduate with flying colours – and having realised a long time ago that she made no idle threats, he hastened to comply before she could decide on how she'd punish him.

Given her current mood, the punishment definitely wouldn't be of the fun variety.

"Lydia, light of my life, you always know just how to motivate me," he told her with pursed lips, scrubbing his cheek and hoping the ink of his pen hadn't got the chance to stain his skin. Not that it would be the first time that he'd have ink on his face, but whatever.

"I know," she smiled sweetly before jabbing her pencil at his book. "Now study."

"Where's McCall by the way?" Theo asked absentmindedly, most of his attention on the equation he was trying to solve. "I thought he'd be here too, considering you're joined at the hip."

Shrugging, Stiles answered, "He's studying with Kira at her place." Tilting his head to the right and staring at the ceiling he added contemplatively, "That and apparently Lydia scares the shit out of him during study sessions. Don't know why."

The girl in question just huffed, turning the page in her book whilst solving her third equation in the last ten minutes.

Theo muttered something that sounded a lot like "I can wager a guess," which had Lydia throwing him a sharp look. She received a grin in return which had her rolling her eyes and returning to her book.

Silence reigned for a while before the various formula started swimming in front of Stiles' eyes and he threw down his pencil petulantly, leaning back in his chair until it lifted off the floor and he ended up balancing on two legs of it.

"Seriously, can't we ask Danny?" he began anew, ignoring Lydia gritting her teeth. "He owes you from that one party still, doesn't he? I doubt he'll say no to you."

"Stiles, for god's sake, will you - "

"Is there a part you're struggling with?" Theo interrupted her calmly, remaining completely unbothered when she scowled at him.

Eyeing him curiously, Stiles admitted after a short pause, "I could use a bit of help with this part." He tapped on chapter six; the pages of it dogeared and several parts highlighted. It was, in his opinion, the hardest part in the entire syllabus and knowing his luck, a large part of the exam tomorrow would be focused on it.

"Oh, the theory in that one isn't as complicated as it looks," Theo reassured him, changing chairs so that he ended up sitting next to Stiles. Dragging the book closer to him, he started, "See, they use this formula when they want to …"

* * *

Chapter six did turn out to be a large part of the exam as Stiles had expected. Thanks to Theo's help, though, he was certain he hadn't failed that part – or any of the other parts – and it was with a smirk that he handed over his finished exam the next day to Harris, who gave him a foul look before walking to the next student.

God, he couldn't wait to be finally rid of that guy. Stiles was pretty certain the feeling was mutual in Harris' case.

* * *

The next exams passed by uneventfully – something Stiles couldn't say about Scott, who had called him in the middle of Friday night to panic about their Spanish exam – and very soon he only had one exam left on Friday, which was English and would be a piece of cake compared to Chemistry.

It being Wednesday, he went down to the Sheriff's station to drop dinner off for his dad, who had the night shift and would most likely resort to eating greasy hamburgers if Stiles wasn't there to ply him with healthy food.

"How are your exams going? Only one left, right?" Dad asked, cutting off a piece of his grilled chicken. He was in between cases now, so he had time to chat with his son for a bit.

"They're going." Stiles shrugged, gnawing absently on his thumb. "Only got English left and that one should be a breeze."

"How are you holding up?" Dad gave him a sympathetic look, knowing how restless Stiles must be by now.

Stiles had always been rather active, constantly having to do something even if it was just jiggling a leg, but exams made it ten times worse because he couldn't just disappear into the woods for hours to release some of that pent up energy. Well, technically he could, but he tended to lose track of time when he shifted and he couldn't risk that during times he had to buckle down and study hard.

Especially when a time like this one would determine whether he'd finally graduate or not.

"Erm, fine, I guess, going to be happy once everything's done," he replied with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "First thing I'm going to do after my exam's finished this Friday is going for a run."

That had dad grimacing for some reason and Stiles raised an eyebrow. "What? It's not like I have anything else to do afterwards."

"It's not that, son, it's just …" The Sheriff hesitated, mulling something over before he uttered a sigh and dragged a hand over his face, dropping his fork into the plastic bowl. "If you go for a run, I'd prefer it if you take someone with you."

"Why?" Stiles demanded suspiciously, leaning forwards. The look of reluctance on dad's face only made his suspicion grow. "Dad, did something happen?"

"All right, I'll tell you, but you have to swear you keep out of this one, you hear me? I'm serious, Stiles, I don't want you to stick your nose in it," Dad said sharply, looking at him warningly. "If I find out you're sniffling around, you're grounded for a year."

"I'm going to college in September," Stiles pointed out blankly, but he shoved his chair forwards; excitement brewing in the pit of his belly. His dad's warning could only mean one thing: he was working on a very interesting case and it had nothing to do with either theft or a burglary.

"I don't care. You stick your nose where it doesn't belong and you can kiss your laptop, your phone, and any outings with your friends goodbye," Dad said firmly, staring at his son until the younger man nodded in understanding.

"I get it, dad, I promise I'll stay out of it," Stiles promised. Well, he'd stay out of it, but surely a bit of online research, depending on what the case was about, wouldn't be that bad …

Dad eyed him warily, as if he could somehow hear what Stiles was thinking, before he sighed and started eating again. "We're still in the early stages of the investigation, but during the last two weeks two bodies have been found in the Preserve."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Stiles asked, "Locals or tourists? Not a natural death either?"

"The autopsy will have to give full conclusion whether they died a natural death or not, but we can only expect that report somewhere next week. The pathologist is backed up a bit due to a couple of murders in another city," Dad answered, rubbing his forehead. "The two were from a nearby town, probably went on a day trip to the Preserve here."

"But you don't think it's a natural death," Stiles said knowingly, fiddling with a loose thread of his T-shirt. He wondered when the two bodies had been found. It had to have been during one of his dad's shifts because he couldn't recall the older man leaving the house on a time he wasn't supposed to.

Dad grimaced slightly. "I don't think so, no," he said reluctantly. "That's why I want you to be careful when you're out in the woods. We're not sure what happened to these two: whether they got into a fight with each other or whether they encountered someone else. Until we know for sure, I want you to take someone with you when you go into the woods. I know I can't keep you inside until the investigation is over, but promise me you'll ask Scott with you or Derek or hell even Theo. Just – don't go in there alone, Stiles."

"I promise, dad," Stiles said quietly. He'd love to investigate the place where the bodies had been found, but he also knew when to push his dad and this wasn't one of those times. If dad found out he'd gone behind his back, he'd get far more than just a scolding.

Given that they only had a couple of months together anymore before Stiles would move into a dorm he'd rather not piss off his dad by disobeying him. Especially not when his dad feared that there was a murderer out there.

Not that Stiles hadn't snuffled around murder sites before, but there was something about this case that obviously had his dad on edge – something that didn't happen often even during other murder cases. A case that had the sheriff this tense was one to be cautious with.

Until Stiles could find more information about it, he guessed he would resign himself to having someone join his running sessions. If only because he didn't want to be the reason his dad's stress levels went through the roof.

* * *

When he left the precinct an hour later he nearly walked straight into Laura Hale.

"Oh hey, Stiles. Came to visit your dad?" she smiled, stuffing her car keys in the pocket of her jeans. She was dressed rather casually in ripped jeans and a black T-shirt with the logo of some obscure band on it. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and she had some eyeliner on.

"Yeah, dropping off dinner to make sure he doesn't stuff himself full with burgers instead," Stiles replied and eyed the manila folder in her hand curiously. "What are you doing here?"

She winked at him. "Just paying the police a visit on behalf of my mother," which honestly didn't really answer the question.

Before he could question the contents of the folder, she continued, "You're finished with exams after Friday, right?"

"Er, yeah, I'll finally be free then. Cora will be finished then too?" he asked, recalling that he'd seen the youngest Hale sibling zipping through the hallways a couple of times these past few weeks. She'd nodded at him in greeting, but both being busy with their exams, they hadn't exactly stopped to chat with each other.

"Yeah, she's got her last exam tomorrow," Laura replied, waving at one of the deputies when he passed them. "Actually I'm glad I'm seeing you now – we're having a barbecue this weekend, you and your dad are invited."

"I'd love to come; any specific reason for the barbecue?"

She shrugged. "No real reason; guess you could say it's to celebrate the end of the school year or more accurately celebrate not hearing Cora's whining anymore," she grinned before nodding at the entrance of the station. "Sorry, Stiles, got to go now. I'll see you this weekend?"

"Yep, I'll be there," Stiles grinned. "My dad too if he can make it."

"That's great! Good luck with your last exam!"

Watching her hurry into the station he couldn't help but wonder whether the content of that folder had anything to do with the case his dad was currently working on. The Hale house was right smack in the middle of the Preserve after all …

* * *

"Say, I've been wondering about something for a while now."

Theo's voice had Stiles resurfacing from Macbeth and he blinked, shaking his head to dispel the daze he'd fallen under. With one evening left until their final exam, this was his last study session. He was alone with Theo this time, Scott still studying – or panicking, either one was possible – with Kira and Lydia having opted to stay home.

With only the two of them they had moved to Stiles' room to study there. Stiles had claimed his desk while Theo had settled down cross legged on the floor against the bed, his stuff spread out in front of him.

"Yeah, about what?"

Theo glanced up and an uncharacteristically uncertain look crossed his face. "It's rather personal," he cautioned, tapping his pen against his knee. "I don't want to offend you or so."

"Like I've never asked an offensive question," Stiles snorted, spreading his hands in the air. "Shoot. What do you want to ask?"

"Er, well, I've been wondering – how, you know, how do you handle your heat during exams?" Theo asked haltingly; his cheeks gaining a slight flush and he immediately looked down embarrassed. "I know it's none of my business, but we've been hanging out for nearly a month and well, Omega get their heat every month, no? So, er, how do you deal with that?"

Taken aback, Stiles gaped at him and that only made Theo redden more. "Sorry, forget what I asked, that was way out of line, I know," he muttered, wincing.

"No, no, er, it's fine, you just took me by surprise," Stiles said, using his foot to swivel back and forth in his chair. "We get heats every month, yeah, but I've been taking medicine to supress that."

At Theo's surprised look, he rolled his shoulders and huffed. "They're a pain in the arse to deal with every month, all right? I don't fancy being out of commission for at least two to three days every month, so I just take medicine to stop my heat. Sometimes during the summer I skip the medicine so that my body doesn't become too unbalanced, but the rest of the year it's back to the pills."

"Huh, well, that explains it," Theo muttered, looking enlightened.

"Glad I could help you out, buddy," Stiles grinned and turned back to his book, hearing the rustling of pages behind him as Theo went back to his own notes as well.

Just one more evening and then he could finally start on his own little investigation. He'd promised dad he wouldn't sniff around, but he didn't have to know about his little computer research.

What dad didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: So yes, consider this the end of the set up for the story. From here on, it's going to grow darker so please pay attention to the warnings.
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me!
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Yay, finished a chapter on time! A miracle happened *coughs*
> 
> Thank you for the comments and the kudos! I can't believe we're nearing 400 kudos already! :O
> 
> Warnings: for this one mainly talk about dead bodies and related description about injuries; minor time skips
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 7_

The run up to graduation was nothing but one big blur after Stiles handed in his last exam.

There was the barbeque at the Hales, where he kept his father from eating too many burgers and himself doing his best not to stare at Derek too much. He wasn't sure whether he'd succeeded because the look in Laura's eyes was too close to sympathetic pity to be comfortable.

Lydia dragged him on another shopping trip on Monday; her eyes too maniac for him to try to form an excuse not to go. Kira joined them, however, so the torture wasn't too bad – mainly because Lydia focused on getting the right dress for the afterparty for Kira, leaving Stiles to wander behind them, trying not to catch Lydia's attention too much.

On Tuesday he and Scott met up to play games for the entire day, gorging themselves on snacks, pizza and soda. It felt good to play games again, hear Scott complaining every time he destroyed his character. It allowed him not to think of the fact that in a couple of months, days like this one would hardly happen once they started attending their respective colleges.

Scott would study to become a veterinarian, having been accepted in a college nearby, while Stiles was still trying to decide what he wanted to do with his life. Following in dad's footsteps would be awesome, especially because he loved solving cases – and might have stolen files from his dad before just to take a look at them – but doing something with literature might be interesting too, considering he loved to read. Or hell, maybe a journalist even, sating his curiosity about things happening in the world.

He'd been accepted to various high ranked universities and colleges, so at least he could choose where to go. Still, the nearest academic institution was a four hour drive; not that terribly far, but not exactly close either.

It would be weird not to see his dad or his friends on a daily basis anymore.

Surprisingly he didn't see Theo during the week following their exams. He'd expected the Alpha to take advantage of the free time to take him on a date, but Theo had apologised through a text, stating he was visiting family in another state and wouldn't be back until two days before graduation.

With Scott visiting his dad and Lydia planning the huge party she was going to throw after graduation, that left Stiles with not much else to do to pass the time. He could, he supposed, visit the Hales, but he wasn't that masochistic. Seeing and talking to Derek, but not being able to _be with him_ in the way they both wanted, would only leave the both of them frustrated.

So, he did what he always ended up doing when he was bored and had nobody to distract him: he went snuffling through the police files.

* * *

A third body had been found two days ago.

Biting on the nail of his thumb, his eyes flicked back and forth as he read the report online, scrolling through the less interesting bits, lingering on others.

The reports of the pathologist of the first two victims had been added to the file and he decided to read those first before tackling the description of the third one. The first two victims had been found rather deep into the woods. The first one, a young woman, had looked like she'd been mauled to death apparently. The pathologist had recorded several deep gouges along her chest and back and her throat had been savagely ripped open as if an animal had set his teeth in her throat and bit straight through.

Unsurprisingly the throat injury had led to a severe blood loss, resulting in her death.

A few feet away from her the second victim had been found, a middle aged man. He'd received one stab to the heart with such a precision that death had been instant. His time of death was recorded as being at least two days after the woman, which of course raised the question how much of a coincidence it could be that his body had been found close to hers.

Even more curious the third victim had been found near the same place – except that this one, a thirty year old guy, had been buried alive. The only reason why the police had found him was because they had returned to the scene of the crime with two dogs in an attempt to uncover more evidence.

Instead of additional evidence, they had found a third body.

Leaning back in his chair, Stiles stared at the screen with a frown. His dad had dealt with some odd cases before, but this one definitely took the cake. There was seemingly no link between the three victims. The woman, one Elisabeth Crown, had only just graduated, holding a college degree in chemistry. The middle aged man, Jonathan Green, had been working for a bank and the younger guy, Marc Franklin, had just started working in a bookstore a few towns over.

The victims' paths had never crossed before their untimely deaths and the way they had died wasn't similar in the slightest either. One mauled by some kind of animal – or more likely, by a person who'd Shifted - the other stabbed and another one buried alive.

Yet all three of them had been found in the same place, which couldn't be a coincidence. Could it? Could it be possible that three different murderers had decided to dump their victims in the same spot, deep in the woods of Beacon Hills?

That would have to be one hell of a coincidence and Stiles wasn't very inclined to believe that. So one serial killer who apparently liked to be creative in the way he or she killed people? Or were the different methods an attempt to throw the police off their trail?

Maybe the woman was just a coincidence and had been mauled by a regular animal? No, he didn't think so. Animals that were big or strong enough to take down a human didn't live near these parts, so that only left someone who'd Shifted in their animal form for some reason to kill the poor girl.

What could the motive be, though? What was so special about these three people that they'd fallen victim to this killer? And why specifically choose that spot in the woods to dump the bodies? Was there something special about it?

"So freaking weird," he muttered, scrolling further down in the document. No wonder dad was so on edge and wanted him to stay out of the forest. It looked like some kind of psycho was offing people one by one and using the woods as his personal dumping ground.

When he arrived at the pictures, he sat up straight, more alert now. He thought he recognised that place in the preserve. He and his mother had often went there to pluck flowers and have their own personal picknicks. The preserve as a whole was a place he loved to visit, but that particular spot had always had a special place in his heart for some reason. He'd always attributed it to the fact that his mother had loved going there, but …

What if it was special for other reasons too? There had to be a reason why the killer had dumped his victims there, right? It was rather deep into the woods and there were easier places to dump bodies than there.

Peering at the pictures, he wondered if maybe he was mistaken and the crime scene was in a completely different spot in the preserve. But no, there was that thick tree stump in the middle of one of the photos; the one his mother had loved sleeping against.

So what was the deal about that place? Just pure coincidence or more?

Shooting a quick look at the digital clock of his laptop, he pursed his lips, tapping a pencil rapidly against the edge of his desk. He still had a couple of hours left before dad's shift would end; long enough to make a short trip to check something out.

He _had_ promised dad he would stay out of this case, though … But surely a quick look around the preserve wouldn't hurt? Dad hadn't explicitly forbidden him from setting foot in the forest after all – just that he had to be very careful and preferably with someone else to accompany him.

Never let it be said that Stiles couldn't find loopholes in everything. One would think the Sheriff would know better by now when trying to forbid his only son from doing something.

Seriously, though: what harm could a quick look around do? He would just quickly check whether something had changed about the place since he'd last visited it with his mother.

Something that might be attractive enough for a possible serial killer to make it their burial ground.

* * *

The sun was beating down harshly when he stepped out of his car, gravel crunching underneath his sneakers. Looking around he spotted a couple of other vehicles, but no actual police cars, so at least he wouldn't be caught by one of his dad's deputies.

He set a brisk pace, keeping a wary eye on the ground so that he wouldn't trip over one of the many roots protruding from the earth. He loved the woods, but those tree roots were treacherous and an utter menace to someone whose balance was passable at best on a good day. For a moment he considered Shifting, but he didn't want to have to search a spot to hide his clothes. He also knew himself very well; if he Shifted, he'd most likely get distracted and then this trip would end up being way longer than it needed to be and then his dad would probably find out and yeah.

Dad not finding out about his impromptu trip to the Preserve was of utmost importance.

In spite of not having been there for years on end – the memories of Claudia having been too painful to face for a very long time – he instinctively still knew which path to take and which brook to cross. He didn't encounter anyone else, though sometimes his ears picked up the sounds of people laughing; the noise carried over to him by a soft breeze which occasionally rustled the leaves and provided some cooling on this hot summer's day.

As he neared the place with that particular tree stump, he had to pause a couple of times, swallowing back tears when he remembered all the times he and his mother had raced each other to the tree, the winner getting to demolish all the berries they'd plucked. This particular spot had been something of just the two of them, a private place no one else seemed to know about.

To realise that someone – some psycho killer – was using it as their own personal graveyard …

It made him feel sick.

When he finally neared the edge of the field, he halted and rested a hand on the nearest tree trunk. Surveying his surroundings carefully, he inhaled deeply and was immediately hit by the familiar scents of fresh grass, wild flowers and that one particular essence he had never been able to name. Something which seemed to be a combination of various scents and yet smelt like it was completely unique at the same time.

A certain kind of perfume which had always driven the younger version of him wild, curling into his nostrils, filling his head until it seemed as if he could only smell that particular scent.

Now it wasn't anything different. The scent appeared to have grown stronger even, permeating the air, making it a tad harder to breathe. How had those deputies been able to stand that smell? Especially when combined with the bad odours of decomposing bodies.

Grimacing at his own thoughts, he cautiously took a couple of steps forwards. The grass had been flattened in several places, trampled underneath the police's – and killer's – shoes. The tree stump – the one he and his mother had spent so much time around – stood still proudly in the middle of the field. Or well, as proudly as a stump could stand anyway. It managed to look regal either way, as if it was still the large, broad tree it had once been – according to Claudia anyway.

A large patch of grass around six feet away from the tree was gone, showing uprooted earth. That must have been the place where the third victim had been buried alive. The other two bodies had been found near the tree as well, but aside from some left over dried blood, there was nothing to indicate the victims had been dumped here.

The stench of death was hard to ignore, though, and he wrinkled his nose, breathing through his mouth while he slowly walked around the stump, studying the ground carefully. What was so special about this place that the killer had dumped three bodies here? It was rather deeply located in the woods, that was true, but it wasn't as if nobody ever came here either. The killer would have had more luck staying undetected if he'd gone more north, where the terrain was so rough and uneven barely anybody went there for a walk.

Stopping next to the stump, he rubbed his bare arms absently and pressed his lips together. The air felt strangely charged and heavy and he wondered whether a storm was approaching. The weather report hadn't mentioned anything of that sort, but well, the weather in Beacon Hills could be rather unpredictable at times.

Tapping his foot lightly against a visible root of the stump, he heaved a sigh and stuck his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Well, this had been a complete bust. He couldn't see anything that might make of this place the ideal burial ground. It was just a tree stump surrounded by wild flowers and grass; he'd seen better dumping places used in tv shows and movies.

His ears picked up the sound of approaching footsteps too late.

"Stiles, what are you doing here?"

He whirled around so quickly, he tripped over his own feet and fell backwards, waving his arms around wildly before he fell down hard on the stump with a shout. "OH FUCK! That hurt!" he moaned, dead twigs stabbing his butt. He practically threw himself forwards; his butt aching from the impact on the dead tree.

Wincing and rubbing a hand over the aching parts he looked up and saw Laura standing a couple of feet away from him, sporting an unimpressed look.

Crossing her arms, she repeated, "What are you doing here?"

Her hair was done up in a high ponytail and she wore white shorts and a yellow tube top; her skin already glowing with a healthy tan. Damn those Hales for being able to tan so perfectly. If Stiles would tan, he'd end up looking like a cooked lobster.

"Just walking around," he answered evasively, straightening up.

"Here?" she said sceptically; her eyes flicking around the field.

"Yeah, my mom and I – we used to visit this field a lot," he said, hoping she would leave it at that. He really hated pulling the dead mom card, but the last thing he needed was for Laura to grow suspicious and alert his dad to his little outing.

At the mention of his mother, her face softened and she sighed softly, resting her hands on her hips. "I get it," she said sympathetically. "But Stiles, it's better if you don't come around this place for a while, okay? I'm sure you've smelt the scent of death too." She looked at him pointedly, letting him know she wasn't fooled after all.

"Sorry," he said chagrined, rubbing the back of his neck. "Can you please not tell my dad about this? He doesn't want me to go alone in the Preserve now."

"No, that doesn't seem like a good idea to me either," she said calmly. "I'm letting you off the hook for this once, Stiles, but if I catch you here a second time, I'll march you straight to the Sheriff's station myself, are we clear?"

"Crystal!" he agreed hastily, sighing in relief. He knew he was lucky Laura had found him and not Talia or her husband – they wouldn't have had any qualms about telling his dad about his trip here.

Narrowing her eyes, she clucked her tongue. "I mean it, though. The Preserve isn't a safe place for now. Not until the killer is caught. Don't make me regret leaving you off the hook, mister."

"I won't," he vowed, before trying his luck a second time, "Do you know whether they have any suspects?"

"No, haven't heard anything about that," she said, crossing the small distance between them.

"And even if you did, you wouldn't tell me," he guessed disappointed, scowling when she smirked and flicked his ear.

"Got that right. Now come on, I'll walk you to your jeep."

The walk back was silent, Stiles not knowing what to say after having been caught and Laura seemingly too intent on scanning their surroundings to make small talk. It made him question just how bad this case was if it even set Laura on edge.

She finally looked at him when they reached his beloved jeep and waited until he'd got behind the wheel to speak again. Leaning in the window, she said, "I'll see you around, Stiles – although preferably not in the Preserve," she added with a meaningful look.

"Yeah, all right," he grunted. "Not like there was anything interesting to see anyway."

She snorted and lightly pinched his arm before turning around. Before she could walk back, he called out to her.

"Hey, Laura! Tell your siblings I said hi!"

Her laugh was bright and clear, filling the warm summer air and it was so infectious it made him grin.

"Yeah, okay, I'll pass the message on to my siblings." She winked and waved, before disappearing into the trees again.

Shaking his head, still grinning, he started his car and reversed out of the parking spot, joining some other cars on the road.

Only when he was almost home again, did he realise how weird it had been for Laura to find him there. With the field being off limits for the time being, why had she been there?

* * *

"I'm really proud of you, son." Dad hugged him tightly, voice thick and his eyes wet with a sheen of unshed tears. "Your mother would have been so proud too."

"Thanks, dad," Stiles muttered, clasping his arms around the older man and hugging him back just as tightly. His cap was somewhere behind him and he'd nearly tripped over the long robes he'd been forced to wear, but he couldn't be happier now.

_He had finally graduated_. From now on he would no longer suffer the torment of high school and teachers who were out to get him – _cough, Harris, cough_. He was as free as a bird – until university started, but that wouldn't be for another few months.

"Still think you would have done a better job with the speech than Lydia," Dad grinned and pulled back, wiping his eyes quickly.

"Figured it would be safer for me if I let her have that moment," Stiles chuckled and as if she heard him, Lydia looked up from her mother's embrace a couple of feet away, throwing him a quick smile.

"Congratulations, Stiles," Melissa smiled, pulling him into another hug once she got close enough; Scott following her with a blinding grin of his own. Her eyes were red rimmed and she sniffled slightly. "Can't believe how quickly you two grew up. It seems like it was just yesterday that I found you two playing in the sandbox and Stiles declaring Scott was going to be his best friend forever."

"Aw, Mama McCall, you're going to make us all cry," Stiles joked, but there was a lump in his throat and he had to blink rapidly several times to push back the tears.

"I'm just really proud of you two, okay? I want you to know that," she insisted, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.

"We know, ma," Scott grinned and kissed her cheek. His face lit up when he saw something – or most likely someone – over Stiles' shoulder. "There's Kira! Do you mind if I …"

"Go," she snorted and waved him off. "But I expect you back in a moment so we can all go out to eat lunch."

"I'll be back soon!" he promised and then practically rushed past Stiles, eager to get to his girlfriend.

"How about we go wait somewhere where there's shade?" Dad proposed, squinting up at the sky. "I feel like I'm about to sweat right out of my shirt; can't imagine how much worse it has to be for you, son."

"I'm taking off the robe as soon as we're in the car," Stiles grimaced, plucking at the thick, blue cloth. He still didn't understand why the graduation robes couldn't have been made out of a lighter fabric, considering they _graduated in the freaking summer_.

He was only wearing a T-shirt and his jeans underneath it, but with the sun high up in the sky, it was enough to make him feel like he was simmering in his own personal sauna.

"Sounds like a good idea," Melissa agreed and nodded towards the edge of the field where a row of trees formed a natural wall. "We can wait there for a bit. I don't think the tent will do us any good if we wait there."

Stiles didn't think so either; the white tent on the other end of the field looked more ready to bake the people inside than actually offer some shade. Several people were making their way towards it, so even if the sun wouldn't warm up the space considerably, the amount of people inside would do the trick just fine.

"All right, let's go," Dad agreed and they wriggled themselves through the thrum of other parents hugging their children and teachers congratulating their now ex-students.

"Stiles!"

His name being called had Stiles halting and turning around, squinting when the glare of the sun hit him right in his face. Theo was hurrying towards him, his cap clenched in his left hand.

Dad briefly touched his shoulder. "We'll wait for you there," he said and walked away with Melissa before Theo had reached him.

He threw a brief scowl at the retreating back of his dad before he turned back around, offering the other guy a grin. "Hey Theo, congrats on graduating, man."

"Yeah, you too," Theo smiled. "I was so sure you'd be up there giving the speech, though."

Stiles shrugged, a bit bashful. "Lydia's better suited for things like that," he said. Between the two of them, Lydia definitely excelled in writing speeches that managed to touch both students, teachers and parents. Left up to Stiles, he'd probably started rambling about something completely unrelated midway through his speech. For the sanity of everyone involved, it had been better if Lydia gave the speech.

"Too bad, would have loved to hear what kind of speech you would have come up with," the Alpha grinned.

"One filled with too many different subjects," Stiles smiled wryly. "Trust me, you were all better off listening to Lydia."

"Well, we'll never know for sure," Theo chuckled before clearing his throat. Something akin to a bashful look crossed over his face and he licked his lips before asking hesitatingly, "I was thinking … Maybe I could take you out tomorrow? Like, er, on a date?"

The idea of having an actual date with Theo had Stiles' stomach flipping in an uncomfortable way, but he plastered a smile on his face and nodded. "Sure, sounds good."

The words tasted like ash in his mouth, even with Theo beaming and his eyes gleaming with joy. The last thing he wanted now was a date with the Alpha, but he had to at least pretend to make an effort.

Besides, maybe the date wouldn't be that awful. At worst it might be something lame Theo had planned, but well, it wasn't like he'd never done something lame before.

No way was he going to kiss Theo, though. Too bad for the dude, but amazing date or not, these lips of his were reserved for one person only and that wasn't the Alpha standing in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: I don't know much about how the education system in the USA works, so I'm basically taking some artistic liberty with some of these elements *coughs*
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Longer chapter than usual, but I'm just going to assume that you won't mind that too much :P Not sure whether you should get used to a length like this, but we'll see I guess *hums*
> 
> Thank you for all your comments and your kudos! I'm so happy to see that this story has already received more than 400 kudos!
> 
> Warnings: Another description of a dead body; small time skips and ATTENTION: at the end of this chapter while it is very much implied (like nothing described at all), the end scene refers dubious consent (in the sense that Stiles can't remember anything at all because he was so out of it). I tag it as dubious consent because that's the closest warning I can come up with for this particular scene. So just be aware.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 8_

Stiles was loathe to admit it, but Theo was actually very good at coming up with amazing date ideas. It seemed he'd paid quite some attention to the stuff in Stiles' room, deducing his interests correctly from that observation, because he first took Stiles to the movies, to watch Deadpool 2. A mercenary with a big mouth and very dubious morals? Yeah, Stiles was sold.

They'd got tickets to the earliest screening so afterwards Theo took him to play paintball for two hours where Stiles somehow managed to not trip or flail too much and they actually won the game. Yeah, Stiles was quite surprised about that.

Dinner, though, proved that Theo was actually serious about his courting and that he was trying his best to win Stiles over: _curly fries with a hamburger_.

Now Stiles was a strong man, all right, really strong, but everyone had a weakness and god if he wasn't utterly weak for those delicious golden curly fries, sent straight down from heaven. He couldn't stop a low moan from escaping him when he shoved a handful of them in his mouth, uncaring how that would make him look. _Curly fries, man_.

"The food good?" Theo asked amused, supporting his chin on his hand. He'd chosen a cheeseburger with curly fries as well, although his serving of fries was somewhat smaller than Stiles'.

"Good? It's amazing!" Stiles exclaimed, heedless of the foul look an elderly woman seated at a nearby table threw at him. "You're really going for all my weak points, huh? Superhero movie, paintball, now curly fries – pulling out the big guns, I see."

The Alpha shrugged and smiled. "I figured I need to pull out all the big guns if I want to have a shot at winning your heart," he said lightly. "I'm going up against Hale, after all. Not an easy competitor." His chuckle was a bit self-deprecating and he rubbed his hand across his mouth.

Stiles paused, lowering his hamburger slightly. "You do know Derek isn't courting me, right?" he said carefully. For some reason the thought that Theo thought he was actively competing against Derek didn't sit well with him. Especially because it wasn't true. Well, not in the literal sense at least.

It wasn't like Derek could court him at the same time Theo could. His life would be so much easier if that actually had been possible, because at least then he could have spent time with Derek however he wanted to, including being near each other instead of being forced to keep some distance like they had to now. Not to mention he would have been able to put a stop to this farce a lot sooner instead of having to sit out a full six months with Theo.

Theo wasn't a bad guy, really. Clearly he was thoughtful, given how much effort he'd put into this date, and he was friendly and with time Stiles thought he could come to like him as a good friend. But in the end that was all Theo could ever be to him: a good friend. He didn't feel any click with him whatsoever, no butterflies like the ones he'd felt when he first laid eye on Lydia – before he realised they were better off as friends – no spark between them like he'd experienced with Derek.

There was just nothing with Theo and while he felt bad for the guy, it wasn't like he could help how he felt. Theo could pull out all kinds of big guns as much as he wanted, Stiles had already made his decision and that didn't include the Alpha sitting in front of him.

He guessed Theo was right in the sense that Derek wasn't an easy competitor – except the end result of the match had already been decided and that was something Theo seemed to have not realised yet.

_Or maybe he's just in denial_ , Stiles thought when Theo pressed his lips together for a moment before shaking his head quickly.

"Oh, I know he's not officially," he replied airily. "But I'm not stupid or naïve either. I know I'm not exactly your first choice."

Stiles kept quiet, not knowing how to respond to that. They both knew it was true, though.

Theo's smile turned wry and he raised his glass in the air. "I just ask that you give me a proper chance for the next four and a half months. Maybe I can surprise you after all."

"If I wasn't planning on giving you a proper chance, I wouldn't have agreed to this date, would I?" Stiles retorted and quirked an eyebrow. To lighten the atmosphere again, he added casually, "Just so you know, though, you made a good call with the curly fries. No one can resist the call of curly fries."

The grin spreading across Theo's face was wide and genuine and he looked pleased when he drank from his coke. "Thanks, I try my best."

* * *

Things turned a bit awkward when they stopped in front of Stiles' house an hour later. Dusk was only just settling in, the sun still painting the sky orange and rose and purple, and the scent of barbeque drifted into the open windows of the car, together with the noise of people chattering and laughing. Someone was holding a barbeque further down the street.

There were some kids riding their bikes through the street, egging each other one as they raced and two cats – ones belonging to Mrs. Smithson if Stiles remembered correctly – were soaking up the last sunrays on a windowsill, looking like one big blob of black and white against the window.

Removing his seatbelt, Stiles cleared his throat. "So, er, thanks for today. I had a lot of fun."

Theo smiled, relaxing his grip on the steering wheel. "I'm glad to hear that. I was worried you would be bored."

"Definitely not bored," Stiles reassured him and reached out to open the door. "Well, I guess I'll see you soon again? You've got my number so …" he trailed off with an awkward chuckle, feeling suddenly uncomfortably warm in the car.

"Stiles."

The mention of his name had him turning around again, just in time to see Theo leaning towards him. In a flash he understood what the other one was planning and he turned his face away slightly, causing Theo to miss his lips and brush his cheek instead.

A baffled look appeared on the Alpha's face when he pulled back startled and Stiles smirked, waggling his finger. "I don't kiss on the first date," he told him loftily.

Theo smiled crookedly, leaning back in his chair. "How many dates does it take then?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Stiles was out of the car before Theo could say something else and made his way to the front door. He waved when Theo started the car again and opened the door when he drove off.

"Stiles?"

"Dad, yeah, I'm back." He kicked off his shoes and padded into the kitchen, relishing the coolness provided by the fan on the kitchen counter. It wasn't a big fan, but it did what it had to do. "Don't you have a night shift?"

"Yeah, I'll be leaving in a bit," Dad confirmed, closing the fridge and handing a soda can to his son. "How was your date?"

Stiles shrugged and dropped down on the chair, opening the can with a loud ' _psssht_ '. "It was fun. We saw Deadpool 2, then went paintballing and we got curly fries just now."

"Curly fries, huh?" Dad blinked, draining his own can. "Wow, he's trying his best it seems."

Stiles offered him a wry smile. "At least I can't claim he's not trying his hardest, right?" He sighed and pursed his lips. "Would have been easier if he was just a jerk about this, though."

"While I do get what you mean, I'm glad he isn't a jerk. I'd be hard pressed to follow those backwards rules if he was behaving out of line towards you," Dad muttered, a dark look crossing his face for a moment.

"Yeah, but at least then I would have been able to put a stop to this quicker," Stiles pointed out petulantly.

"I know, son." Dad walked past the table and clasped his shoulder. "Just four and a half months still left to go. And the last part of that you'll be at college anyway, so you won't have to put up with him for too long."

The younger man perked up. "That's right! Means I only got around two and a half months left," he realised pleased. He could do that. Just get through the summer and then he'd be away at college and he could count down the days until he could return to Beacon Hills to inform the Council he wasn't interested in Theo.

"Exactly." Dad patted his shoulder before jerking his thumb backwards over his shoulder, pointing at something on the kitchen counter. "By the way, a blonde girl was here for you this afternoon. Erica? I believe that's her name. I think I've seen her with the Hales before."

"Erica? What was she doing here?" Stiles asked surprised, abandoning his soda in favour of checking out whatever was waiting for him next to the coffee machine. It turned out to be a small piece of paper with two series of numbers written down in a neat handwriting.

"Said she'd forgotten to give you her number and that of Boyd's and that you should text her soon to meet up," Dad answered lightly.

That particular tone had Stiles looking up from the scrap of paper. "What?" Whenever dad used that particular tone, he actually wanted to ask something else.

"Nothing, just that she doesn't seem the – type you would hang out with," Dad commented carefully, leaning back against the table.

A sharp bark of laughter escaped the Omega as he imagined the outfit Erica must have been dressed in when she popped by. No doubt she'd been wearing something very tight and toeing the line of too revealing, wearing bright red lipstick and high heels. No, he supposed she didn't really seem the type to hang out with him.

"She and Boyd are friends with Derek and we kind of started talking to each other a while ago," Stiles said and shrugged, plucking his phone out of his pocket to add the numbers to his contact list. "They're quite cool. Erica's more bark than bite anyway."

"Well, I guess hanging out with Lydia prepared you for that," Dad said amused, chuckling when his son stuck out his tongue. A quick glance at his watch had the sheriff grimacing slightly and he shook his head, straightening up. "All right, I have to go now. If you're planning on still going out somewhere, send me a text, okay?"

"You still haven't caught the ones who killed those people in the Preserve?" Stiles inquired, stuffing his phone back into his right pocket. He knew the answer, of course, given that he was keeping an eye on the files, but his dad didn't know that.

Dad's eyebrows pulled together and he rubbed over his eyes. "No, we haven't yet, so be careful when you go out."

"I promise, you be careful too."

"Always," Dad promised and after squeezing Stiles' shoulder, he left the kitchen, probably to get his holster, gun and his badge. "I'll see you in the morning, Stiles!"

"Yeah, tell Jordan I said hi!"

The door falling shut announced dad's departure and not even a minute later, the cruiser drove away, leaving Stiles standing alone in a slowly darkening kitchen. Checking the kitchen door to make sure it was locked – he might snoop around in the police files, but he wasn't stupid enough to leave the door to the garden unlocked – he snatched up his soda from the table and locked the front door as well before making his way upstairs. He might as well surf a bit on the internet still before going to sleep.

His phone buzzed with a new message. Scott: ' _And, how was the date?_ '

With a groan, he started composing his answer, hoping that would be the last time he'd have to answer that particular question.

* * *

"So how weirded out was your dad that I showed up?" Erica smirked; her eyes hidden behind her sunglasses. She wore an emerald green bikini and her blonde hair was nearly blinding in the sunlight.

Rolling his eyes, Stiles replied, "He told me you didn't seem like the type I'd hang out with."

"Rude," she huffed and waved a hand over her body. "Please, who wouldn't want to hang out with me?"

"If you were dressed like you usually do, I'm not surprised my dad thought that," he retorted amused, snickering when she smacked his leg.

"No insulting my girlfriend," Boyd said calmly, dropping down on the empty towel next to Erica. Isaac had stopped swimming in the lake and was just drifting aimlessly now.

"Hey, I never said I had a problem with it. Erica looks cool in whatever she wears," Stiles said, pulling a chilled bottle of water out of the cooler. "Dad's just not used to having girls clad in leather show up at our front door."

"I was told that crashing your date would be inappropriate just to leave our numbers, so I decided to stop by your house," she said and pressed her lips together, still sounding unhappy at the thought of Stiles having gone on a date with Theo.

The Omega couldn't say he didn't share her sentiment, but he couldn't exactly refuse and Theo had been pretty cool overall during the date, so he couldn't complain too much.

"Told by whom?" he asked amused, wondering who had managed to actually convince Erica not to go through with an idea she had. She was even more stubborn at times than Stiles himself, and that was saying something.

"Peter." She scowled. "Still haven't decided whether he was being thoughtful or just trying to get a rise out of Derek."

"Probably both," Boyd murmured. "He's having quite some fun with this situation between you and Derek."

"Well, as long as the bastard has his fun," Stiles sighed, not having expected anything different from the older werewolf. Peter was Peter and he wasn't going to change his habit of antagonising people just because one of them was his own nephew. As a matter of fact, he might even enjoy getting a rise out of Derek more, specifically because he was his nephew. The guy was twisted like that.

"So anyway, whenever you want an excuse not to hang out with Theo – or just an excuse not to be alone with him – you can call us," Erica suggested, smiling when Boyd handed her a can of soda. "Thanks, babe."

"Scott is still an option too," Stiles couldn't help but point out, sitting cross legged on his own blanket. There was already sand strewn across the light blue fabric, making him wonder why he even bothered with it anymore. He'd probably be digging sand out of places it shouldn't be in for days after this.

She snorted and tossed her hair back. "No offense, Stiles, but when it comes to being an actual determent, I think we'll be more of use to you than Scott. We're not likely to be distracted by our mate," she smiled sharply.

And – that was fair, he admitted begrudgingly. He loved Scott like a brother, but god knew he was quick to get distracted when it came to Kira. It was just how he was and Stiles couldn't be mad about it. If his best friend was happy, he was happy, end of story.

When it came to forming a barrier between him and Theo, though, Erica, Boyd and Isaac were probably the better choice. They – especially Erica – seemed almost as annoyed as Stiles was with this arrangement. Maybe it was because Derek was their friend and they were forming a pack of their own, causing them to act like this because Derek wasn't happy with this situation either; he didn't ask.

"Either way," she leant across and draped her arm briefly across his shoulders, "we're only one call away, Batman."

Smiling at the nickname – she must have seen the comics in his room when she'd been there before to play videogames – he squeezed her fingers softly. "Thanks, Catwoman."

She winked and her grin was a bright flash against the summer's sky.

* * *

Throughout the days that followed, Theo took him out on a couple of more dates. He took the Omega to the comic book store, which was quite obviously a win, an amusement park two towns further where Stiles discovered that no, hotdogs and quick rides weren't a good combination and a trip to the lake, this time also inviting Stiles' friends – including Erica, Boyd and Isaac to Stiles' surprise. Erica was having a lot of fun scent marking him that day – he wasn't oblivious nor stupid, the amount of hugs she bestowed on him and the ways she kept touching him one way or the other, even going as far as pushing him into the lake, could be considered nothing less than scent marking at this point.

He'd been slightly worried that would make Theo pissed off – especially because Stiles could smell Derek on the three – but the Alpha remained remarkably calm. He definitely was doing his best to make a good impression on Stiles.

Hell, he even played videogames with him, even though it was clear that he wasn't exactly an expert in it. If Stiles wasn't in love with Derek – and yeah, he could admit that to himself, even if it felt a bit weird to use the words 'in love', but 'like' sounded way too juvenile and not fitting for what he felt for the Beta – he might actually be inclined to start liking Theo.

However, Theo could put as much effort into his 'wooing' as he wanted, Stiles' heart was firmly set on one person and that wasn't the Alpha.

Still, he had to give him points for trying at least.

* * *

' _Thinking of having a picnic with Kira. You in? Maybe with Theo or so?'_

Humming, Stiles texted his reply rapidly; a part of his attention still on his laptop, which displayed an article about a possible dragon sighting in north east China. ' _Yeah sure, I'll ask him.'_

' _Cool! Got to go now, mom's calling me'_

Probably for the, Stiles checked the digital clock on his screen, monthly movie night. Melissa insisted on having a movie night with her son only, starting a few years ago when she became busier at the hospital and Scott became busier with school and working at Deaton's vet practice. So Melissa had decided that once a month when both their schedules allowed it, they would set aside an evening for the two of them only, watching movies and catching up on things that had happened to them.

Stiles and his dad occasionally did that too, but the sheriff's job and odd hours at times made it difficult to actually make such evenings a tradition.

Throwing his phone next to him on the bed, knowing he wouldn't hear from Scott anymore for the rest of the evening, he went back to reading the article, trying to figure out whether the witnesses had been bullshitting or not. A dragon seemed rather surreal, but they could turn into animals themselves, so who knew what else was out there, hidden in the world?

A knock on the door startled him. "Yeah?"

Dad opened the door, dressed in his uniform again and holding one hand on his gun. "Just got a call, so I'm heading out."

"Is the call interesting?"

Dad ignored him, _rude_ , and went on, "Don't stay up too late. I know it's summer, but that doesn't mean you need to be up until three in the morning."

"I won't," Stiles said, saluting the older man lazily.

Dad eyed him, but nodded. "I'll see you in the morning, son."

Stiles waited until he heard the door of the cruiser slamming shut and the motor starting, before he jumped out of his bed and dug out the police radio scanner he'd swiped from the station a few years ago. As far as he knew, nobody had realised they were missing one; he used it occasionally, during nights when crime was higher than usual and he needed something to reassure himself that his dad would be fine.

Now it would be a good way to find out what kind of call had his dad going out so late when his shift had ended two hours ago.

There was some static on the scanner, but Stiles could clearly hear a female voice stating, _"One eight seven. All available units to the Preserve."_

He might not know all the codes yet – dad refused to share them with him, even though he must know that Stiles had already picked up the meaning of several of them – but this one he definitely knew the meaning of: the code one hundred eighty seven stood for _murder_.

_Another body had been found in the Preserve._

* * *

He was playing with fire now, he realised. If dad found out he'd sneaked out of the house to check out a crime scene – a murder scene – he'd be majorly pissed off and Stiles would be grounded until he went to college – and possibly even beyond that.

So yeah, he really shouldn't be here right now, but his morbid curiosity had reared its ugly head and wouldn't leave him alone until he'd given in. It might not be anything special, not connected to the other murders, but his gut feeling told him otherwise.

A fourth body in the Preserve? Yeah, the chances of that being just a coincidence were very low.

Crouching, he slowly crept forward, making sure not to make a sound. That wasn't so hard, given that he'd shed his human skin and was lurking about in his fox form. His Jeep made a too distinctive noise and the front of the woods were crawling with police officers, so if he wanted to catch a glimpse of the scene, he had to do so Shifted.

He hadn't even needed his nose to guide him to the place of the crime scene; from the moment he'd heard 'Preserve' through the scanner, he knew the body could only have been found in one spot: the clearing with the dead tree where he and Claudia had spent so many afternoons.

His instinct had been correct. Scuttling between two bushes, he felt sick when the nauseating, sick smell of burnt flesh smacked him right in the face. Whoever the victim was – and it was hard to tell whether they'd been female or male, given their appearance now – they'd been burnt alive, their skin black charred and still smocking, discarded a few feet to the right of the tree. A man in a white coat was kneeling next to the body, examining it with a heavy frown on his face.

It took everything in him not to retch right there and then. How could anyone do this to another person? Just set them on fire, leaving them to die a horrible death? How could anyone be this sick, this deranged?

The place crawled with police officers, his dad standing furthest away from his hiding place discussing something with Parrish, while other deputies went around, collecting evidence, trying to find any clues the killer might have left behind. Their faces were grim, some looking pale in the bright lights installed around the perimeter, and a couple of them looked away every time they came near the victim. Stiles couldn't blame them; it was a gruesome sight.

Forcing his eyes away from the body, he looked around the clearing, and started when he spotted Talia Hale near his dad. She had her arms crossed, still dressed in a smart suit, and her face was hard, but her eyes showed clearly that she was upset. Next to her, for some reason, Deaton stood, watching the scene with a sad look on his face. Why was he here? Talia, Stiles could understand somewhat, given that the Hale house was nearby and she'd probably heard the commotion, but why would Deaton be at a crime scene? This was hardly an animal he needed to help.

Something nipped at his tail and he barely held back a bark of surprise, whirling around to confront whatever animal thought they had the right to bite his tail. Hackles starting to rise, he instantly deflated and dropped down to his stomach when he saw the huge hulking form in front of him, multicoloured eyes staring down at him. They flashed yellow and Stiles whined softly, pressing himself further into the earth as if the ground could swallow him up.

The wolf snorted and swiftly bent down, snatching him up by his neck. For a moment Stiles thought about fighting back, because seriously, this was fucking humiliating, he wasn't a damn pup! But then the wolf growled lowly, a warning sound, and Stiles deflated, sulking as the larger animal trotted off with him, carrying him all the way back to his house.

As the wolf was larger, it didn't take him long to cross the woods and break out of the cover of the trees, padding into the backyard of the Stilinskis. Stiles was unceremoniously dumped onto the porch and the wolf snorted again before the sound of bones cracking and muscles stretching filled the night air until the wolf had made place for the man.

A very naked, very muscled man and god damn it, he really couldn't deal with that sight now. That was the damn issue with Shifting – why couldn't they do that with clothes on?! Slapping his paws across his eyes, he tried to ignore the other one right in front of him.

That didn't really work when a finger prodded against his side and Stiles snapped at it reflexively.

Of course he didn't manage to actually bite him and Derek sounded entirely unimpressed when he said, "Stiles, change back now."

The fox grumbled, not really wanting to shift back now. It was one thing to have Derek standing naked in front of him, filling the air with his pure scent and looking rather otherworldly in the pale moonlight, and a completely other thing to be naked too, which would happen if he shifted now.

Damn it, he should have just stayed home instead of letting his curiosity take over common sense.

Derek huffed and sounded exasperated when he pointed a finger at Stiles. "You stay here; I'll be right back. Don't even try to make a run for it."

Stiles was rather tempted, but he knew he wouldn't be a match for Derek, especially not if he shifted back. Besides, the last thing he needed was to accidentally run into his dad or any of the other deputies still wandering across the Preserve.

So he waited, curled up on the porch, while Derek entered the house and walked upstairs. He didn't know what the Beta could possibly want from upstairs, but that was quickly answered when his clothes were thrown right next to him, Derek stepping off the porch. He had a towel wrapped around his hips, hiding his bits – thank god, because this was already going to be embarrassing enough without Stiles humiliating himself when he changed back – and crossed his arms, nodding at the bundle of clothes.

"There, you've got your clothes. Change back, we need to talk," Derek said gruffly and turned around, giving the younger man some privacy.

With great reluctance, Stiles did as he was told and pulled on his clothes as fast as he could. "Derek, I - "

"Why am I not even surprised you were sneaking around at the crime scene?" Derek turned back around, his heavy eyebrows drawn together in a frown. "What the hell were you even doing there?"

"I just – I wanted to know whether this murder is tied to the previous three," Stiles muttered, feeling chastised even when Derek hadn't so much as raised his voice or actually berated him for being there.

"I'm pretty sure your father told you not to stick your nose in this case," Derek pointed out annoyed.

Throwing his hands up, Stiles sighed explosively. "Oh please, as if that would stop me. I wasn't going to do anything, I was just curious."

"Stiles, now's not the time to go behind your father's back," Derek snapped, his eyes flashing. "Do you even realise how dangerous it can be now in the woods, especially when the police doesn't have any clue yet who's behind this? How do you think your dad will feel if you ended up being a victim too, because you were wandering alone around places where you shouldn't be?"

Stiles flinched back, hugging himself tightly. "That's a low blow, Derek," he said through clenched teeth, hating that the other man knew him well enough to be able to use his weak spots against him.

Derek had at least the grace to look contrite. "I – shouldn't have said that, but Stiles, you can't just waltz into the woods now, not with that killer on the loose. He's already killed three people, this victim might be the fourth one – this isn't the time to start playing detective on your own."

Great, now he was starting to feel guilty. "I know, I wasn't trying to either. I just …" he trailed off and the silence between them was heavy, unlike the ones they'd shared before.

Surprisingly Derek was the one to break it. "Just … Stay safe, okay? Don't go wandering around at crime scenes. Let the police deal with this."

"Yeah, all right," Stiles acquiesced, both knowing and hating the fact that Derek was right. This type of case _was_ something he shouldn't mess with, but old habits died hard and it had become almost second nature to him to check dad's cases and see if he couldn't figure out the clues left behind.

Those cases before had mostly handled theft or burglary or the occasional homicide – never an actual serial killer.

Derek nodded, appearing somewhat mollified, and turned around, his hands going to the towel as if he was about to drop it and shift back.

"Why were you even there?" Stiles suddenly blurted out, keeping his eyes averted. "How did you even know I was there? Dad didn't seem to know."

The older man huffed amused and the trace of fondness lacing his voice when he answered made Stiles flush, "It was a crime scene in the Preserve – I had a feeling you would be sneaking around. As for how I found you: I can pick out your scent no matter how many people are around."

As Stiles spluttered, the towel dropped and the large, black wolf stood once more in front of him. Derek darted forwards to press his wet nose against the Omega's hand before bounding off, disappearing into the cover of the trees.

The palm of his hand still seemed to tingle when Stiles finally went to bed an hour later.

* * *

"You're sure you're okay?" Theo threw him a concerned glance before focusing on the road again.

They were driving past the Preserve, back to Stiles' home. The plan had been to go to the park and meet up with Erica and Boyd just to hang out, but Stiles had been feeling off since the moment he woke up and it had only grown worse as the hours went by. His head felt fuzzy, as if stuffed with cotton, and while the warm summer temperature was probably partly to blame, he felt too hot and itchy and it took every last bit of restraint not to divest himself of his clothes right there and then. His stomach was vaguely cramping; not enough to be really painful, but it wasn't exactly pleasant either and he kept his arm pressed against his abdomen, as if that somehow would help push the cramps back.

Erica had taken one look at him before promptly ordering him to go back home and rest there. In other words: he looked like shit enough that it even worried her.

The thing was: his symptoms felt rather similar to the ones he experienced during his heat, but he couldn't be experiencing his heat now. He was still taking his medicine after all, which put a stop to getting a heat until he skipped taking his pills. Maybe a summer bug then? Or summer flu? That was a thing, right?

"Hm, maybe the heat's getting to me," Stiles muttered and rolled his head towards Theo, raising an eyebrow when he noticed the way the other one seemed to be trembling slightly; his hands clenched tightly around his steering wheel. There was an odd flush dusting his cheekbones and his lips were pressed together until they formed one line.

"Are _you_ okay?" he questioned, wondering whether he should call Scott or even Boyd to ask them to take over driving. "You don't look that great."

"Always a flatterer, huh?" Theo quirked a quick grin and the Omega shrugged. "I'm fine, just a bit meh. Think I'm coming down with something."

"Summer bug maybe," Stiles mumbled, letting his head thunk against the window. It was starting to become harder to concentrate on the road and the trees flashing by; maybe he really was coming down with some sort of summer flu. Dad would probably start fussing over him when he came back in a couple of days.

"… dad home?"

"What?" Stiles blinked and forced himself to straighten out, realising he'd missed a huge chunk of Theo's question. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"When's your dad coming home?" Theo repeated, slowing down to a stop when the traffic light jumped to red.

"Oh, er, this Saturday."

"Saturday?" Theo reiterated surprised. "When did he leave? Why's he gone for so long?"

"It's not long, just a couple of days," Stiles snorted, closing his eyes briefly. His limbs were quite heavy, as if they were being weighted down by something. "It's something for his work; a conference of sorts."

Dad hadn't wanted to go actually. With the serial killer on the loose – he'd begrudgingly admitted that the police was treating the cases of the four bodies as a serial killer one, even if they hadn't managed to find many links between the victims yet – he hadn't exactly been eager to leave town for a couple of days, even though his deputies were quite capable and could hold down the station on their own for a few days.

Still, his presence at the conference had been confirmed months ago and after debating about it, the sheriff had decided he would use his time at the conference to ask other sheriffs present whether they had had dealings with a serial killer like this one. Only the thought that other people might provide more information about the murderer had made the sheriff leave for the conference in the end. Not, however, before making Stiles swear he would lock all the doors and windows every night and when he was out during the day and under no circumstances was he allowed to go wander alone through the woods.

Up until a few months ago those rules would have made Stiles roll his eyes and complain, but after seeing the burnt body in the Preserve, he had no desire whatsoever to 'play detective' as Derek stated. He still could smell the disgusting, foul stench of human flesh burning; the bad odour seemingly having attached itself to the inside of his nostrils.

So no, dad wouldn't have to worry about him sneaking around at night; Stiles had had enough of that for a while.

"Ah. Well, should I call someone else?" Theo asked hesitatingly. "Someone who can stay with you while you rest?"

"I can take care of myself; I'm not a toddler," Stiles snorted, rubbing his eyes. Shit, if he got his hands on the one who had infected him with whatever annoying summer bug he was coming down with … They'd be so sorry!

By the time Theo parked in front of the house, Stiles swore he was going to sweat right out of his skin. It wasn't even that hot inside the car, but his damn clothes stuck to him like he'd just taken a swim in the pool. He pushed open the door before Theo could say something and stumbled out of the car, his legs feeling all weird and jelly like, rubbery.

He'd only taken a couple of steps before he suddenly buckled through his knees and he braced himself for the inevitable pain that would greet him when he fell, but strong arms wrapped quickly around his chest and hauled him upright.

"All right, come on, I'll help you to your room," Theo muttered and shifted his arms until one was wrapped around Stiles' waist and he slung Stiles' arm around his own neck, holding his wrist with his free hand.

"D-don't need your help," Stiles muttered and frowned when he heard himself slurring. Eugh, he'd be so pissed off if he had got the flu somehow!

"Yeah, unless you like to meet the ground with your face, you need my help," Theo said unimpressed and practically dragged the Omega to the front door. "Come on, here we go. Give me your keys."

"Pocket," Stiles said or at least that was what he thought he'd replied. His vision was starting to blur and a sudden wave of dizziness had him smacking his hand against the doorframe, in an attempt to keep himself upright.

Theo said something, but he had a hard time concentrating on his voice. He stumbled through the door which was suddenly open – Theo must have found his keys, thank god – and he thought he was walking up the stairs next.

The Alpha grunted something, his hands like searing brands on Stiles' body, and Stiles shivered for some reason; his lower belly feeling weird.

He was out before his head even hit his pillow.

* * *

When he woke up, he realised three things all at once.

One, he had no idea which day it was or how long he'd been out of it.

Two, he was naked. Like completely; nothing but sheets covering his lower body.

Three, his bedroom smelt like _sex_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: I don't know much about how police call in crimes, so bear with me, all right? *sweatdrops*
> 
> That said, last warning for you all: starting from here on, this story will gradually get darker. If you don't deal well with violence or Stiles getting hurt or some other dark things I'm planning, this might be a good place to stop reading as it will only grow darker from here on. Mind, it will have a happy ending (I swear!) but we're going to wrestle through some dark shit first before we can reach that part.
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me!
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Managed to finish this chapter on time, which is like a miracle to me nowadays.
> 
> Thank you for all the comments and the kudos so far!
> 
> Warnings: Angst mostly. A bit more explanation as to what occured during Stiles' heat and I took some liberties with the medical examination. If I need to add a specific warning, let me know!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 9_

His eyes locked onto wide, blue eyes ones and his stomach rolled, threatening to revolt. Swallowing back the bile – he was not going to puke, not now, not here – he slowly sat up, holding the sheets up until his shoulders.

Blood rushing loudly in his ears, he cracked open dry lips and croaked, "What the hell happened?"

It was a stupid question, a fucking idiotic one given the musty smell and his nudity, but a part of him grasped on to the sliver of hope that all this was just one big misunderstanding, that what he feared had happened, hadn't actually happened and that he hadn't … that they hadn't …

Theo shook his head slowly, appearing dazed as if he'd been whacked across the head and was only now waking up. He was sitting on Stiles' desk chair, though, fully clothed, so he couldn't have just woken up.

"I – I don't know actually," Theo said haltingly, frowning heavily.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Stiles demanded incredulously. How the hell could the Alpha not know what the fuck had happened?

"I can't remember much from the past," Theo checked his phone, "two days."

"It's Friday?" Stiles realised numbly. Friday. He'd been feeling off on Wednesday, but he couldn't remember much of the day itself, so he had lost two days. Two almost entire days in which he couldn't remember shit.

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

"Y-yeah, it is," Theo confirmed, his face troubled. He raked a hand through his hair before groaning. "I'm sorry, my memory's fucked up."

"What do you remember?" Theo had to remember at least _something_ , because Stiles was drawing a completely blank, his head fuzzy, and his lack of clothes and the very distinctive smell was sending him straight into a spiral of suffocating panic. He was going _to freak the fuck out if he didn't get some kind of answer soon._

"I – you were feeling very warm," Theo started, flicking his eyes up to the ceiling; his face still set in a heavy frown. "But you were also smelling really good, for some reason, which is odd because I thought you were getting sick with the flu or so."

Dread settled into Omega's stomach as he realised with a growing sense of horror just what had occurred these past couple of days.

"I got you into your room and you were muttering something, but I couldn't hear it," Theo continued slowly, clasping his hands together. "So I bent down and asked you to repeat it and the only thing I could keep thinking of, that I remember clearly, is your scent. Like it was filling up the entire room, even more than usual, and it just … I don't know. Everything became a blur after that."

He breathed out slowly and when he lowered his gaze to Stiles again, he looked like he was going to be sick. "I can't remember anything after that. I woke up around half an hour ago, only to find out we're both naked somehow and the room smells like, you know," he waved his hands awkwardly, looking pale in the sunlight creeping through the curtains, "and I got my clothes back on. I've been trying to figure out what the hell happened since I woke up."

"Did you – did you feel like you were on fire?" Stiles questioned, not wanting to hear the confirmation, but knowing the answer will be positive all the same.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Theo nodded, a tad perplexed. "Yeah, actually. Like there was a fire running right underneath my skin. I thought I was going to explode with it."

Stiles closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, reminding himself over and over again that now was not the fucking time to lose his mind, to get lost in the panic threatening to overtake him. It was getting harder to breathe and he forced himself to inhale deeply and exhale slowly, keeping his rhythm as steady as possible, not wanting to give in to the blinding terror squeezing his lungs together.

"Stiles?" Theo sounded nervous, but not closer, which was good, because Stiles wasn't sure how he would react if the Alpha were to touch him right now. "Do you – do you have an idea what happened?"

"Heat Exposure," Stiles muttered miserably and on the other side of the room Theo inhaled sharply, evidently understanding what it meant.

Heat Exposure was, crudely formulated, an intense form of an Omega's regular heat. It occurred when the Omega in question hadn't had their heat in a long time and as a result, the pheromones built up until they basically 'exploded'. The Omega would get thrown in a heat worse than they had ever experienced before, but anyone around them at the moment the heat broke through would get affected as well. The others – be they Beta or Alpha – would experience a similar intense heat, their bodies forced to react to the presence of an Omega in the throes of their heat.

Was that what had happened to them? Had Stiles been thrown into Heat Exposure, dragging Theo into it as he'd been around him when his heat broke? It appeared to be the case, but …

Stiles took his suppressants every day. He knew that the longer he took them, the higher the risk of Heat Exposure occurring was, but that was why he'd always calculated how many months he could take his medicine before he had to take a break and not take them for two weeks. He had had still one month left before he should have stopped his suppressants and allow his heat to break through.

There was no way he could have miscalculated something so important, so how the hell had he been thrown into Heat Exposure when he'd been taking his suppressants still?

"That, that explains why I barely can remember anything," Theo said feebly, rubbing a hand over his face.

"I'm sorry, I thought I still had a month left," Stiles muttered, but his mind was still stuck on the issue with the suppressants. Not to mention – with Theo not remembering much either, just how far had things gone between them?

Obviously he was naked and Theo had been in a similar state before getting dressed and the room did smell like – like sex, but … They couldn't have gone all the way, right?

Ice replaced his blood as he contemplated that horrifying possibility. There was no way he could have had sex with Theo. He was still a virgin, for fuck's sake! He'd been hoping to have his first time with Derek, the one he actually wanted to be with - there was no way things between him and Theo could have gone that far, right?

He shifted around and didn't detect any lingering soreness, but … Bile burned his throat before he swallowed it back down and he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Stiles? Are you …" Theo trailed off, obviously realising finishing that particular question would be stupid given what had just happened – or might have happened, Stiles didn't know.

He didn't know and he needed to know for sure, because what if … He'd had his heat, Theo had spent the last two days here, and during a heat an Omega was …

He didn't even dare to finish that thought. He needed to know, however. He was a big fan of ignoring things until they went away on their own, but this was something he couldn't, should definitely not, ignore.

"I'm fine," he said, aware that his smile was brittle and not at all reassuring. "I'm sorry, Theo, but can you leave? I need to clean up, air out the room, you know, before my dad comes home and starts asking questions."

All at once he felt jittery and the need to move around, do something, grew, but he didn't want to get up for as long as Theo was still here. He wanted to be alone before he would break down. It was still a tad difficult to breathe, but for now he was able to keep his panic at bay. He didn't know for how long he could hold it back, though.

"Er, if you're sure," Theo said uncertainly, rising up slowly. Rubbing his hands over his thighs, he licked his lips. "You're going to be okay?" he asked worriedly, keeping his eyes averted in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, I promise," Stiles said hastily, clenching his fingers into the sheets. "Just need to take a shower, you know? And clean up my room."

"All right, I'll text you," Theo said and for a moment he hovered, appearing unwilling to leave. Then he nodded and walked out of the bedroom.

Remaining in the same place, Stiles tracked Theo's departure, listening to him descending the stairs. The front door opened and closed again after a short moment. Another minute later and the engine of Theo's car rumbled to life before he drove off.

Stiles was alone again, nothing but the quietness of the house and some early chirping birds to keep him company.

He dashed out of bed and reached the bathroom just in time to throw up in the toilet.

* * *

' _n heat. Wll cal when it over'_

' _Okay! Take care!_ _😊'_

He read the two text messages over and over again, his leg moving up and down jittery. Scott's answer was dated 11.07 a.m. on the twenty-ninth of June. Somehow Stiles had managed to text his best friend about his heat, even though he couldn't remember having done so. The proof was staring right back at him, though, and it did explain why Scott hadn't been banging on the door this morning, demanding to know why the Omega hadn't given any sign of life the past two days.

"Mister Stilinski?"

His head shot up and he stared at the friendly, red haired nurse standing a few feet away from him. She smiled reassuringly and beckoned him to follow. "The doctor is ready to see you now; I can lead you to her."

"Yeah, er, thanks," he muttered, stuffing his phone in his pocket and following her hastily.

They passed several nurses and doctors, patients lingering in the corridors with their family members. The floor was buzzing with people chattering, papers flipping and nurses calling out patients' names, but Stiles was numb to it all. Every sound was muted, like he was underwater, and he kept his gaze fixated on the back of the nurse, her white uniform acting as some kind of beacon.

He wasn't at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. He'd debated going there at first, because it was closer and familiar – and the latter was the problem. Memorial Hospital had Mama McCall and she currently had a shift – meaning Stiles would have run into her if he had gone there. There was the whole secrecy oath, of course, but he doubted she would be able to keep it to herself if she found out what had happened. At the very least she would have urged him to talk to his dad about it and that was the last thing he wanted.

Dad was already upset at the Run in general, irate at the serial killer roving around Beacon Hills – he couldn't possibly heap even more stress on the sheriff's shoulders.

No, he was going to deal with this on his own. He was eighteen; he didn't need his dad to hold his hand.

Even if right now, he could really use somebody to support him as the nurse knocked on a door and a female voiced called for him to enter.

The nurse gave him a last reassuring smile as she cracked the door open before leaving to attend to another patient. Taking a deep breath, he slipped into the room, his eyes instantly falling on the woman behind the desk.

She looked to be somewhere in her forties, the first hint of grey glistening in her dark brown hair. She wore it in a loose bun with some strands escaping and framing her heart shaped face. She smelt like Beta and was currently bent over some paper, her pen scratching words onto it.

He couldn't help but tense up when she looked up, a faint smile gracing her light rose lips.

"Good morning, my name is Angelina Hope and I'll be your doctor today," she introduced herself, rising up from her chair and offering her hand.

He hesitated, the urge to flee flaring up before he squashed it down. He approached the desk, shaking her hand with what he hoped was a passable friendly smile.

"Hello, I'm Stiles Stilinski," he introduced himself in return.

His peculiar name combination only got a quick quirked eyebrow before she inclined her head and gestured at the chair in front of her desk. "Please take a seat. Can you tell me the reason why you want a consult today? You're not from around here, are you?" she questioned absently, flipping quickly through the papers he'd had to fill in when he'd arrived at the hospital. "Can I call you Stiles?"

"Er, no, I'm not. I'm from Beacon Hills and yeah, that's fine," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously.

Her gaze sharpened at that and she closed his file. "All right, no problem," she said soothingly. "We get people from a lot of different places. Can you tell me why you've come here today?"

His stomach flipping uncomfortably, he linked his fingers together and cleared his throat. Focusing his gaze on a pile of files in front of him, he started haltingly, "It's, er, I had my heat for two days and the thing is – I can't remember anything of what happened. And normally I shouldn't have had my heat yet, so …"

"Are you taking suppressants?" Doctor Hope questioned, her eyes assessing him carefully.

"Yes, every month."

"Do you take them consecutively?"

"Yeah, because it's too much of a hassle otherwise," he admitted, clamping his hands around his knees. "But I did the math years ago and I stop taking them for a while around the middle of August so that I get my heat then instead of somewhere during the school year."

She hummed thoughtfully. "And you didn't stop taking them this month?" she asked for confirmation, jotting something down.

He shook his head. "No, I always stop taking them in August. That's why I'm worried, because I'm still taking the suppressants, yet I got my heat on Wednesday."

"That's indeed strange," she muttered. "Do you perhaps have a bottle of them with you, so that I can take a look?"

"Oh yeah, here." He had to lift up his hips a bit in order to retrieve the small bottle, but soon the dark brown bottle was in the doctor's hands, who inspected the label carefully.

She opened it and shook some of the small round pills out of it, letting them fall in the palm of her left hand. "I know the issue," she said abruptly, pouring the pills back in the bottle.

"You know?" Stiles said startled. "What's wrong with them?"

Placing the bottle aside, she folded her hands on the desk and leant forwards a bit; a slight frown creasing her forehead. "The manufacturer distributing this particular type of suppressants had a problem a while ago and the pills they ended up delivering are faulty."

"Faulty, how?" he asked warily; the sick feeling in his stomach intensifying. Just how screwed was he?

"As you've unfortunately experienced, they don't suppress the heat at all," she said solemnly, tapping the white lid. "Instead it's like you don't take the pills at all. We've already had several patients here with the same issue and we've urged the company to do a call back, but so far they haven't done that yet."

"So basically, it's like I never took any suppressants at all this month?" he asked, mouth dry and his ears ringing.

If his medicine had been doing shit all month, then during his heat if he and Theo had …

_Oh god._

"Basically, yes," she said with a grimace. "You mentioned that you can't remember anything during your heat? Right before it started, was there anyone with you?"

He gave a jerky nod, pressing his hand against his mouth. "Y-yeah, an Alpha."

"Your partner?" she inquired carefully.

He shook his head, pressing his eyes shut. "No, not – I mean, he's courting me because of the Run, but we're not … We aren't …"

"Okay, I understand," she said, her voice sinking into a soothing tone. "Does he remember what happened? Or did he leave?"

Wiping underneath his nose roughly, he took a shuddering breath, feeling way too warm in the small office. "He didn't leave. He – he can't remember much either. He told me it was like he had a fire underneath his skin, but that's basically all that he can remember."

"Heat Exposure," she murmured in realisation and sighed softly, running a hand over her hair. "I'm sorry for asking you this, but do you think something happened?"

He shrugged helplessly, rubbing his thighs anxiously. "I don't know. I – I don't feel any soreness, but …"

"You want me to check, see if I can find something?" she suggested gently.

"Yes, please," he whispered, hot tears pricking the back of his eyes. How the hell had his life screwed up so quickly that he was now in a hospital to find out whether he'd had sex or not?

"Okay, no problem," she said softly. "You can change behind that curtain there. You can keep your shirt on, but you need to remove your underwear and your jeans. I'll examine you first and I'll also draw some blood to do some tests. Depending on the results of those, we'll go over your options, okay?"

"My options?" He didn't like the sound of that.

She pursed her lips slightly. "Heat Exposure has your fertility heightened even more than a regular heat does," she said gently. "If something happened between you and this Alpha, it is possible that you are pregnant. Your bloodwork will show the results, although it will take a week unfortunately. Depending on those results, we'll discuss your options: another type of suppressants if you want or if you turn out to be pregnant, I'll explain what you can do then."

"Oh right," he said weakly, the ringing in his ears growing worse.

"When you're ready, you can change and then lie down on the examination table with your feet in the stirrups," she said, keeping her voice low and soothing while she opened her drawer and grabbed a pair of mint green gloves from a box.

Despite her overall gentle demeanour, Stiles couldn't say he was feeling any better. Still, he didn't want to drag this out any longer than necessary and so he scurried behind the curtain, kicking off his shoes and pulling down his jeans and his boxers. Feeling way too vulnerable in his half naked state, he awkwardly climbed onto the examination table, flinching at the way the paper crinkled.

He reluctantly rested his feet in the metal stirrups and laid down, staring at the broken white ceiling and trying to ignore the growing sense of panic stirring around in his gut.

"Okay, Stiles, have you had an internal examination before?" she asked, slipping on the last glove.

He shook his head and swallowed. "No, er, I went once, but they only used some kind of white thing on my stomach?" He flushed and kept his eyes fixated on the ceiling.

From his peripheral view, he saw her nod in comprehension. "You mean the transducer. Okay, then I'm going to explain first what I'll be doing," she said and grabbed a bottle from a drawer. "To check whether any form of penetration has taken place, I'm going to have to feel around with two fingers to inspect you. I'll be using this gel and I'm going to warm it up a bit between my fingers, but it might still be a bit cold," she explained apologetically.

Flicking the tab open she squeezed a small amount of the gel on her index and middle finger. "I know you're going to think this is stupid, but I need you to relax as much as possible, okay? That might not be easy, but it will help. If at any time you feel any discomfort or pain, let me know and I'll stop."

He nodded, not trusting himself to actually open his mouth and answer. His eyes were still stinging uncomfortably and he squeezed them shut for a moment, taking deep breaths through his open mouth.

"All right, I'm going to start."

The first touch of something wet and cool had him flinching and locking up his muscles.

"You're okay, I'll be very careful. Just try to relax as much as possible," Doctor Hope soothed and waited until he'd forced himself to relax more before she continued pressing her finger inside.

The sensation of having something entering down there, slippery and cold and alien like, was incredibly unnerving and he had a hard time keeping himself relaxed. Every cell in his body was pushing for him to close his legs and flee, put a stop to this invasive examination, but he stayed put, although the sick feeling was growing bigger now and he gnawed on his inner cheek.

"Try to think about something else," she advised him, her movements slow and methodical. "Maybe a vacation you went to, a place you like to visit or a movie you want to see."

He didn't think of those things. Instead, when he closed his eyes, his mind instantly jumped onto an image of shining multicoloured eyes and white teeth flashing in a rare bright grin. He held onto that, hearing the laughter as clear as day in his memory, could remember feeling proud that he'd managed to make the other one laugh like that.

"All right, it's over, I'm done!" Doctor Hope announced, stepping back and removing her gloves before dumping them in a small trash can. "You can change back and sit back on your chair."

Her face was completely unreadable, giving nothing away of what she had discovered, and on shaky legs he disappeared behind the curtain to put his clothes back on.

"So, er, could you …" he started to ask when he sat back down, but couldn't finish his question.

"There has been a form of penetration," she said carefully, her fingers linked together. "But it's hard to say whether that happened with fingers or something else."

"Oh." He wrangled his hands together, staring at the tiled floor. He didn't know how to feel about that. Now he still didn't have an actual answer, still didn't know what the hell had happened to him when he'd been out for two days.

"I'm going to draw some blood now," she went on. "And those results should give a more conclusive answer."

"All right," he mumbled and held out his arm while she set about gathering the equipment.

He'd always been rather squeamish around blood – which was ironic, considering he liked to look through his dad's police files – but now he didn't even flinch when the needle sank into his skin right into a vein. He stared blankly at the wall ahead of him, the ringing in his ears having made way for the sound of his blood rushing.

After placing a band aid over the spot where she'd drawn blood, Doctor Hope stepped back, placing the three small vials of blood in a metal tray on her desk. "I'm going to send these to the lab immediately and within a week the results should be ready. I'll call you once I have them and we'll discuss your options then."

"Sounds good," he managed to bring out and she patted his shoulder briefly.

"Take care of yourself, okay?" she said softly and he nodded, stumbling out of the room.

The entire way to his car was nothing but a blur and when he slipped behind the wheel of the Jeep, he sat there for a long time, not moving a muscle.

Wondering just why this was happening to him.

* * *

It was unreal, behaving normally when his dad returned the next day. He'd aired out the room, had sprayed neutralisers in it to get rid of that awful stench completely, and had washed his sheets and clothes.

He went through the familiar motions of greeting his dad and badgering him for information about the convention, preparing lunch for the both of them. Dad had talked to several other sheriffs of counties surrounding Beacon Hills, but none of them had had to deal with murders like the one taking place in their town now.

The older man was clearly frustrated with that fact, his lips thin as he talked about some of the other topics which had come up during panels before announcing he'd pop by the station for a few hours. Stiles hadn't expected anything else, so he didn't protest when dad stood up and ruffled his hair before leaving again.

It was easier to be alone now, easier not to have to pretend that everything was normal, that he wasn't afraid he could potentially be pregnant now.

He'd texted Theo this morning to give him a brief explanation of what had happened at the hospital. He hadn't mentioned the possibility of being pregnant, had just said they were doing to examine his blood, and the Alpha had been wise enough not to mention it either. He'd asked Stiles to let him know what the results were when they came in and had left the ball in Stiles' park when it came to meeting up again in the upcoming week.

No offence to the Alpha, but Stiles was definitely not in the mood to be around him, even if Theo wasn't exactly at fault here.

He needed time alone, away from the Alpha, and try to decide what the hell he was going to do.

If the results turned out negative, then everything would be fine. He'd just ask for another suppressant, something that couldn't be tampered with during distribution. If on the other hand the results were positive …

What was he going to do then? If he – if he was pregnant, what the hell was he going to do? He didn't want to be bound to Theo for life through a child. He'd been planning on waiting out the required six months and then he'd tell the Alpha he wasn't interested and they would part ways. How were they supposed to part ways if a child was involved?

Unless … He rubbed over his mouth, the letters on the page of his novel swimming in front of him. Would he be able to go through with it? Would he be able to abort the baby if he turned out to be carrying one?

He'd never thought about what to do if he unexpectedly ended up pregnant. Why would he have when he'd been taking suppressants for years and had always been careful with them? He took them diligently every morning at the same time just to make sure he was fully protected, so he never had to worry about a surprise pregnancy if he ended up having sex with someone.

Except now the possibility was there and he was scared shitless at the idea of it. He was only eighteen years old; he should be worrying about his upcoming classes once he enrolled into university, should be worrying about his homework and whether or not he would be able to handle the workload. He shouldn't have to deal with a possible pregnancy and the lasting consequences of that!

How was he supposed to decide what would be best for him? He couldn't even decide what he would be eating for breakfast that day, let alone make a decision as life changing and important as this one!

* * *

The week following passed by painfully slow. He upheld a mask of normalcy, met up to play games with Scott and was dragged into another shopping spree with Lydia. At certain moments during their shopping, it had looked like she'd wanted to say something, her eyes sharp and calculating, but she never did, instead keeping to the local gossip and her speculations that Jordan might be planning a proposal.

If Jordan was hoping for that moment to be a surprise, he would be quite mistaken. There was no fooling Lydia Martin after all.

Dad was mostly at his office, looking through the case files in an attempt to see whether he'd somehow missed a clue. So far there hadn't been another victim, but that didn't mean the police were relaxing. They wanted to catch the killer as soon as possible and Stiles found himself delivering dinner to his dad for a couple of evenings when the man had lost track of time and hadn't realised his shift was over.

Stiles took advantage of those times to snoop through other files and pester the sheriff into giving more details about his current one. Anything to fill his mind with, so that he didn't have to think about the being that might or might not be currently growing in his stomach.

"Maybe we could go to the lake again?" Erica suggested, popping a fry in her mouth.

"Oh, that would be nice!" Scott said enthusiastically; his arm resting on the back of Kira's chair. "I heard it's supposed to get even warmer tomorrow."

"The hottest day of the week," Theo agreed; the paper of his burger crinkling when he unwrapped it.

"It'd be nice to take a dip into the lake," Kira smiled, nearly whacking her milkshake to the ground when she reached out to grab a napkin. "Oh, oops!"

"What do you think, Stiles?" Lydia questioned; her shiny pink lips wrapped around the red and white striped straw.

"Sure, why not?" He shrugged and startled when his phone started buzzing in his pocket. When he checked the number flashing across the screen, his heart skipped a beat and he hastily stood up, drawing everyone's eyes to him. "Sorry, I'm going outside for a bit; I have to take this," he explained and hurried away before either of his friends could question who was calling him.

"Yes, hello?" he said, picking up as soon as he'd barged out of the diner.

"Stiles? You're speaking with Angelina Hope, your doctor," a female voice greeted him and he came to an abrupt stop in front of his Jeep.

"Oh, er, hello. Do you – do you have the results?" he asked, starting to feel somewhat light-heated all of a sudden and he pulled at the collar of his red shirt, wondering whether he should sit down in his car.

His stomach flipped upside down when she replied, "Yes, I received them just now. Can you stop by my office today? I need to discuss them with you."

_Oh god._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: So yes, if I need to add a particular warning, please let me know. 
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter and wish you all a happy holidays!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: I managed to finish the chapter on time, look at that. That's like a miracle nowadays.
> 
> Thank you for the comments and the kudos! I'm so excited to see that this story is nearing 500 kudos already!
> 
> Warnings: Hm, angst mainly. If there's anything you think I need to tag, let me know!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 10_

He didn't remember what exactly he told his friends before driving over to the hospital. Whatever excuse he had used, it had been believable enough apparently, because none of them had insisted on joining him or asking what was wrong. Theo had looked confused, but he'd accepted the excuse as well, which was good, because the last thing he needed right now was the Alpha insisting on joining him.

His stomach cramping up all the way there, he barely held it together throughout the entire trip. His hands were shaking and he gripped the steering wheel harder, forcing himself to focus on nothing but the road and the traffic. Certainly not on whatever news Doctor Hope had in store for him.

After parking, he forced himself out of the Jeep; his legs feeling like stretched out rubber. His stomach rolled with every step he took; his blood roaring in his ears. He felt cold in spite of the sun merrily shining down on him and he took several deep breaths to combat the creeping sensation of wanting to throw up.

_God, please don't let him throw up now._

A nurse, not the same one as last week, told him he could go to Doctor Hope's office immediately as she wasn't tending to any patients at the moment. Heart hammering in his chest, he walked through the corridor, bypassing a couple of other nurses who were discussing a patient with low voices; one of them tapping roughly on the file in her hand.

The doctor looked up when he knocked on the open door and offered him a friendly smile, waving him inside. "Stiles, I'm glad you were able to get here so soon," she said, closing a file and putting it in a drawer.

"Yeah well, this is not something I want to wait a couple of days for," he replied, wringing his hands together as he sat down. "What – what're the results?"

She placed her hand on top of a closed file. "I checked them and they're negative. You're not pregnant," she answered, offering him a sympathetic smile when he sagged down in relief.

Rubbing his hands over his face, he groaned, "Oh thank god! Fuck, I've been so worried!"

"I can understand that," she nodded.

"And the results are correct? It's not a false negative or so?" he asked nervously, lowering his hands and gnawing at his lower lip.

"No, don't worry about it. They're not a false negative. I can assure you for the full one hundred percent that you're not pregnant," she assured him.

"Thanks, that's – that's great news," he said, releasing his breath slowly. He felt like he could turn into a puddle any moment now, relief so strong he could only sit there for a moment and let it sink in that he wasn't expecting a baby. He wouldn't be tied to Theo for the rest of his life through a child. That realisation was so sweet he had to close his eyes for a moment.

Doctor Hope let him have a moment to himself, before she said, "Now that your results are in, we can discuss your suppressants."

"Right." Stiles blinked and sat up, rubbing his thighs absently. "Has the company called back the faulty medicine yet?"

She wrinkled her nose and furrowed her eyebrows. "Not yet. They're doing a call back soon, within a week normally, but as far as I'm aware of not many faulty batches have been sent back yet," she replied. "Which is why I want to ask you whether you'll continue on taking these pills or whether you want to switch over to a different type of suppressant. It's all up to you. If you prefer your pills, I can write you a new subscription and you can pick up a new bottle in two weeks."

"What's the alternative?" he questioned curiously. He'd been taking pills for several years now, so he'd grown used to taking one each day, but if he had to be honest, he wasn't certain whether he trusted them anymore after this. If the company had produced one faulty batch, who was to say they wouldn't make the same mistake again?

"Injections," she answered, smiling amused when he shuddered. "Not exactly a pleasant method, perhaps, but it's an effective one. One injection will protect you up to eleven months; in the twelfth month you'd get your heat to prevent Heat Exposure from occurring."

"So just one injection and I wouldn't have to do anything else for eleven months?" he asked slowly, mulling over the idea.

Truthfully he wasn't a fan of needles at all. The sight of one alone was enough to make him nauseous and make his head spin, never mind actually feeling the prick, small though it might be. It would only be one injection, though … He'd be protected for eleven months; he wouldn't have to worry about possibly taking faulty pills. Enduring a needle was starting to sound rather great when faced with the possible consequences of continuing his pills.

"Just one injection," she confirmed. "It's quick; you won't feel a thing."

"I doubt that," he muttered underneath his breath.

"Should you decide that you want a baby after all in the upcoming eleven months, you can come back to get another shot which will dissolve the suppressant," she explained, opening one of the drawers in her desk to rummage through it. "Just have to wait three days for the suppressant to get out of your system and then you're good to go."

"I doubt I'll be wanting a baby anytime soon," he muttered, scratching his arm absently.

"I'm obliged to give you that information," she smiled apologetically. "So, you're choosing the injection then?"

"Yeah, let's go for that," he nodded and took a deep breath, his stomach already squirming when she started opening a long box to remove the needle out of it.

Just one measly prick – he'd be fine.

* * *

He might have almost kind of passed out when the needle pricked through his skin, but he was pretty certain he hadn't lost consciousness completely. Which was like a big feat for him and he was totally feeling proud of that.

Still a bit woozy from the sight of the needle, he slowly made his way out of the hospital back to his Jeep. Once inside, he couldn't stop himself from whooping and smacking his steering wheel in a sudden bout of excitement.

Thank fuck, he wasn't pregnant! He wasn't expecting a baby, there was no bun in his oven, no mini Stiles about to run around in a year. He still didn't know what exactly had happened during his heat, but he was cautiously hopeful that maybe things hadn't gone that far between them. If it had, surely the test would have been positive, considering heats were specifically designed to make the person in question more fertile.

And with the injection he wouldn't have to worry about accidentally swallowing faulty pills again either. He could be at ease for the next eleven months and by the time his heat would arrive again, he and Derek would be together and maybe – just maybe he would be sharing his heat with the Beta then.

That thought had him squirming around in his seat for a moment and he had to force himself to sit still and take a couple of deep breaths, keeping his eyes focused on the steering wheel. There was no point in getting excited yet with still four months left to go, but at least he was getting closer to regaining his freedom.

Just four more months – even less when he counted the time he would be away at university and wouldn't be able to meet up with Theo regularly – and then this shit would be over and he could be together with Derek.

He grinned and started the car. Just four months; a piece of cake.

* * *

"I almost forgot to ask – did you get the results back?" Theo asked softly, fiddling with the cap of his water bottle.

"Don't you fucking dare, Isaac!" Lydia screamed before it turned into a screech when Isaac threw her in the water with a large grin.

Pulling his eyes away from the scene, Stiles crossed his legs on the blanket and scratched his right knee. "Yeah, I did," he muttered, hoping the splashing of the water would cover their conversation a bit. The others didn't seem interested in what he and Theo were talking about, but the last thing he needed was for one of them to overhear the wrong thing.

"What did they say?" Theo questioned, his fingers stilling around the cap.

"Negative," Stiles said and wiped some sand from his arm.

"That's good to hear," Theo sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. His shoulders were starting to turn a bit red; he probably hadn't used sunscreen there. "Did they figure out how it was possible?"

"Faulty batch of medicine," Stiles replied curtly, stretching his legs before quickly pulling them back underneath the large parasol when the sun stung his skin. "They're taking the bottles back."

"Shit, that's not good," the Alpha whistled lowly and ran a hand through his hair. "Are you going to take them again once the new bottles aren't faulty?"

"No, I got an injection now," Stiles shook his head. "Works for eleven months, so I'm good for now."

The other man squinted at him and remarked amused, "Didn't you tell me you're scared of needles?"

"I'm not scared, I just really dislike them!" Stiles protested and smacked the Alpha's arm, making him laugh. "I just don't trust the pills anymore, that's all. And with this injection, I don't have to worry about getting a heat for the next eleven months, so I'm willing to suffer a needle if that means I don't have to worry about accidentally going into heat."

"How brave of you," Theo teased and snickered when Stiles retaliated by throwing a fistful of sand at him.

"You're going to set foot in the water at one point today?" Erica halted in front of the blanket, her hands on her hips and one blonde eyebrow cocked. Her dark blue bathing suit clung to her body; her bright red painted toenails formed a sharp contrast with the dark colour. She'd put her hair into a high ponytail but it was still dripping with water.

Lydia appeared next to her, looking like a vengeful goddess even whilst completely soaked – a look only she could pull off, Stiles was sure.

She pointed a manicured finger at him threateningly. "Move off the blanket, I need to dry off," she hissed; her eyes sparking fire. Isaac was suspiciously absent and Stiles hoped she hadn't drowned the guy as revenge.

His dad had enough on his plate already without adding another murder to it.

When she took another threatening step towards him, he scrambled off the blanket, holding up his hands and valiantly trying to ignore how the sand was burning his feet. "I'm already off it, see!" he squeaked, eyeing her hands nervously. He thought he'd seen a flicker of her claws and he didn't fancy getting scratched by her.

She harrumphed and sat down, folding her legs underneath her while she grabbed a towel from her bag. "The next person to think it's funny to throw me into the water will be very sorry," she stated calmly, but her eyes still held a dangerous sheen even as she started patting her hair dry.

"I'm sure they will be," Erica agreed lightly before grabbing Stiles' arm and tugging him to the water. "Come on, Stilinski! No point in going to the beach if you're going to stay dry the whole time!"

"Ever considered maybe I just want to get a tan?" Stiles suggested, but he allowed her to drag him to the edge of the water, spotting Boyd a bit further away, drifting on his back. Isaac was apparently swimming further into the lake, proving that Lydia hadn't succumbed to killing him.

The look she threw him was unimpressed and yeah, he couldn't really blame him for that. "You, tanning?" she snorted, forcing him to step along in the water or fall flat on his face. "Yeah, right. You mean, impersonating a lobster."

"That hurts, Erica; you're being quite offensive there," he told her and she laughed.

"It's not offensive if it's the truth," she grinned and grabbed his other wrist as well. "Come on now, let's swim!"

The water reaching his waist now, he turned his head to check where Theo was and found him still seated on the towel next to Lydia, being staunchly ignored by her. Theo saw him looking and waved with a grin, but didn't seem inclined to get up and join them in the lake.

Ah well, whatever. If Theo wanted to stay there, that was his prerogative. Stiles had come out here to have fun, to privately celebrate that he wasn't knocked up, so that was what he was going to do.

"Hey man, Erica managed to convince you to get into the water?" Scott grinned, showing up beside him. He'd been swimming, possibly having some match with Isaac as he was still breathing rather harshly.

"It's not as much convincing as just her dragging me along," he informed his best friend and the girl in question snorted derisively.

"How about a race?" she suggested, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. "To the middle of the lake and back twice. The losers have to treat the winner."

Stiles estimated how far the middle was and shrugged. "Yeah, why not? I hope you've got enough money with you, Reyes," he smirked.

She narrowed her eyes. "Oh, it's on, Batman."

"On three," Scott announced. "One, two, three!"

Belatedly Stiles realised that Erica had taken up swimming for several years. The flash of her teeth when she smirked and set off was enough to make him mourn for his wallet.

Shit, this was why he didn't make bets with her.

* * *

The next couple of weeks were filled with meeting up with friends, going on dates with Theo, and trying to decide which university he would start attending. Time was slowly running out and he knew he needed to make a decision soon. He'd never realised just how difficult it would be to make a choice, though. Every time he thought he'd finally decided on one, he started browsing through the leaflets of the others and he'd start wondering whether one of those wouldn't be a better fit.

He was slowly reaching the point where he was desperate enough to write the names of the universities on some scraps of paper, throw those in a bowl and let fate decide for him.

Nobody had ever told him just how difficult it could be to make a decision that would leave a huge impact on the rest of your life.

"You decided on a university yet?" Dad questioned, stuffing the last bite of his salad in his mouth.

"I've narrowed the list down to five!" Stiles stated triumphantly, cramming his own last piece of sandwich in his mouth. He'd delivered lunch to his dad, seeing as he hadn't been able to see the man last night or this morning.

He was also using his excuse of wanting to see his dad to enjoy the air conditioning of the precinct. The end of July was unreasonable hot for Beacon Hills and he was revelling in the cold air circulating in the office. The fans at home just didn't really do the trick.

Dad sighed and shook his head. "Well, I suppose that's an improvement to last week when you still had nine left."

"I'll chose one on time, don't worry," the Omega promised. He perked up. "Hey, do you think that maybe I could - …"

He was interrupted by knocking on the door before Parrish opened it and leant inside. "Sorry, but you're needed, Sheriff. A body's been reported by two joggers. Possible homicide."

Dad's face grew sombre and he rose up, grabbing his badge and gun. "Where was the body found?"

An uncomfortable look crossed the deputy's face and Stiles didn't miss the way he quickly glanced at him. "In the Preserve, sir."

A fifth body in the Preserve? Stiles' heart quickened and he sat up straight. Wide-eyed, he asked, "Do you think this one is also the work of that serial killer?"

Dad frowned at him. "I don't know and it's none of your business anyway. I told you to keep your nose out of this one, Stiles," he told him firmly and his son raised his hands.

"I know, I know, I'm staying out of it! Just curious, that's all."

Dad shook his head and clasped his shoulder briefly when he walked past him. "Go home, Stiles. No detours near the Preserve."

"Fine, I'll go," Stiles sighed, figuring he could nose around in the files online later on. He had no desire to see another dead body – not after the last one which still made him gag when he thought about it – but that didn't mean his interest in this case had lessened. Not by one bit.

"Straight to home," Dad warned him again when they stepped outside.

"I know, I will," Stiles sighed and waved at him before making his way to his Jeep, watching police cars drive away in the direction of the Preserve.

Another body in the Preserve – it could only be the work of the serial killer. It would be one hell of a coincidence if a second killer had shown up and decided to dump the body in the woods too. Stiles wanted to bet the body was found near that tree stump; the serial killer seemed to be quite fond of that particular place, which pissed him off, because that place had belonged to him and his mother.

To know that some sicko was dumping his victims there, in a place where Stiles had spent his happiest days …

It made him sick.

He was driving through Main Street when he suddenly became aware of just how much his clothes were sticking to his body. Frowning, he tugged at his collar before aiming the air conditioning to his face and neck. It didn't do much for him and his frown deepened; shit, was the air conditioning of his car also giving up on him? Dude, that wouldn't be cool at all, especially not in this blazing heat!

His stomach cramped together and he nearly slammed his foot on the brakes in surprise. Curling one arm around his stomach, he turned right, gritting his teeth when another cramp shot through him. Had something been off with the sandwich? He didn't think so; he always ordered from that place and their food was great every time.

It was only when he felt something wet trickling between his thighs that he realised what was going on. Horrified, he haphazardly parked his car on the side; his hands squeezing the steering wheel tightly. Pressing his teeth tightly together barely managed to contain his scream of frustration and he smacked his hand on the steering wheel, barely registering the pain shooting through his arm.

_He was in heat._

_**Again.** _

How the fuck was that even possible?! How could he be in heat for the second time when he'd taken that injection? He shouldn't be having his heat for another ten months, what the fuck was going on?!

"God, not again," he hissed between clenched teeth, squeezing his eyes shut. "Not again, not again, not again!"

This couldn't be happening to him, this shouldn't even be happening to him! His heat wasn't due for another ten months – what the hell was happening to him? Had the injection been faulty as well? But Hope had reassured him everything would be fine, that there was no way to botch up that particular suppressant.

If there wasn't, why the hell was his heat starting again then?

He yelped when his phone buzzed and he clumsily pulled it out of the pocket of his jeans, trying to ignore the way his boxers were starting to become rather damp, and opened the new text. It was from Theo, asking him whether he was still on for an afternoon of gaming.

God no. He couldn't see Theo now, didn't want to see him. He also didn't want to barricade himself in his room, which he normally would do when enduring his heat, but his whole room carried Theo's scent now because the guy was there quite often nowadays, and his skin positively crawled at the thought of spending his heat there, surrounded by the Alpha's scent.

He couldn't do that. Not after last time, not after having spent his heat already with that scent wrapped around him; a heat he still couldn't remember anything from, no matter how hard he tried.

He'd flip his shit if he had to spend his heat with that guy's scent around him.

Making a split decision, he reversed his car and drove to the only place that felt safe now; the only place where he could be sure to spend his heat without Theo's scent cloaking him, a place where he could trust the people living there to take care of him when he was at his most vulnerable.

"Stiles, I didn't know you were - " Erica cut herself off as soon as she caught a whiff of his scent and her eyes widened.

He smiled weakly at her, bracing a hand against the doorframe. His legs were the consistency of rubber at the moment and he needed to go lie down badly. "Hey, Erica, do you mind if I spend my heat at your place?"

* * *

He had made the right decision to come here.

He spent the next two days at Erica's place, sequestered away in a room furthest in the back of the house. She'd apologised profusely when she'd opened the door to the room and the old mingled scent of her and Boyd had hit them right in their faces. She spent her heats in this room, she'd explained, flitting from one side of the room to the next, pulling out fresh sheets and throwing one window open to air out the room. It was the only room where other scents wouldn't bother her, but she hadn't had the time yet to air it out after her most recent heat and whether he would terribly mind if the scent wasn't immediately gone?

Itching with the need to lie down and curl up into a ball, he'd reassured her that it was fine, that he wasn't bothered by it. It should, perhaps, because he really wasn't interested in knowing what the couple smelt like after having had sex, but he settled instead at the smell of _pack_ , of his friends, relaxing in a way he usually never quite managed to do during his heat.

Throughout his heat she made sure that he ate and drank enough, texting his dad to let him know where he would be spending the next two days. She might have alerted other people texting him – like Theo or Scott or maybe even Lydia – but she didn't mention them and he didn't ask.

She'd been flustered and a bit out of her depth when he'd came knocking on her door in the afternoon, but by the evening she'd regained her snark, evidence in the small bag she'd dropped on the floor next to the bed.

"What's in that?" Stiles had blearily asked, still curled up in a ball on the bed.

She'd smirked and answered cheerfully, "Doing my duty as one Omega to another one – I picked up some of your things that get you through your heat."

It had taken his brain a couple of seconds to realise the implication of her words and he'd choked, staring at her horrified. " _You went through that drawer?!_ "

She'd shrugged unbothered, turning to leave. "I wanted to get Derek, but I guess a toy is the next best thing for now, no?"

She'd been cackling when she'd left, shutting the door right in time before Stiles' shoe could have hit her. He'd cursed her out and whined, mortified that she'd gathered some of his toys, had actually gone through his drawer and collected them, all so he could spend his heat in a more comfortable way.

He hadn't known whether to punch or kiss her for that.

As it turned out, the toys were indeed the next best thing as they were quite helpful as an aid for his fantasies – although he would never admit that to her.

The knowing gleam in her eyes, though, told him he didn't need to admit anything aloud for her to know she'd been right.

Damn her. He was seriously starting to like her.

* * *

"You're feeling okay?" Erica offered him a sympathetic smile when he stumbled into the kitchen mid Sunday morning, still feeling groggy but no longer empty or aroused.

He'd taken a long cold shower to get rid of the sticky mess he'd turned himself into the last two days and to get rid of the heat stench. He'd thrown open all the windows in the room before coming down.

"Yeah, I'm feeling better," he sighed, accepting the cup of coffee and the plate with pancakes she pushed towards him.

They were the only two home at the moment and he dug into his breakfast with gusto, feeling like he hadn't eaten in days even though he had. Erica had made certain of that.

She leant her chin on her fist and stared at him. "I'm glad I could help you out, but was there a reason why you didn't spend your heat at your own place?" she inquired curiously. Her face was soft in the morning sun light, no traces of make up yet, and her hair was done up in a messy bun. The shirt she wore was clearly too big, handing off her right shoulder; probably a shirt of Boyd's.

He grimaced. "Didn't want to spend my heat in a room that smells like Theo."

"Ah," she uttered softly in understanding. Her hand darted out and squeezed his forearm gently. "Well, you're always welcome here. You don't need an excuse of a heat or wanting to escape Raeken for that. I'm glad to have you here." She sounded amused but her eyes were soft, even carrying a hint of uncertainty.

He smiled and turned his hand around, catching hers to give it a soft squeeze. "Thanks, I'm glad to be here."

She beamed, looking pleased before announcing she was going to make more pancakes with chocolate chip in this time, the warm weather be damned.

He grinned and talked and laughed, helping her with the dishes afterwards, letting her bully him into staying the afternoon as well, claiming he still looked a little bit like shit.

He felt like it too, but not for the reason she was imagining. His heat hadn't been as bad as the previous one, his body not in danger of Heat Exposure after a second time of experiencing it, but that didn't make all of this any better.

He needed answers, that was for sure.

For now, though, he was content to curl up on the couch, Erica's head resting on his shoulder, watching cartoons with her.

* * *

"Can you come over?" he asked tersely, his eyes flitting back and forth as he stood in the middle of his room.

"Er, I suppose so, yeah," Derek said hesitatingly. "Why?"

"I need your help with something. How quick can you be here?"

"I'll be there in five minutes," Derek stated, apparently catching something in the Omega's voice that alerted him things weren't right.

Breathing out slowly, Stiles lowered his phone once the _beep, beep_ sound announced that the older man had hung up on him. Throwing the phone on the desk, he ran his hands through his hair, pressing his lips together.

He'd gone to the hospital on Monday to get his blood checked again. Doctor Hope had been absolutely stumped when he'd told her he'd had his heat for the second time, not understanding either how that had been possible with the injection. She'd put pressure on the lab to examine his results first and he'd received them this morning.

The suppressant wasn't in his system anymore. It was completely gone, as if it hadn't been injected in him in the first place.

The only reason that could have happened, Hope told him unnerved, was if he'd received the counter injection.

He thought he would have known if someone had come up to him to jab him with a needle. Obviously he hadn't used the counter injection on himself either. So how had it happened? How could someone have injected him without him knowing about it?

_If he'd been asleep._

That realisation was horrifying and it made him scared. Scared to acknowledge that the house he'd felt so safe in for his whole life had turned out not to be so safe in the end after all. Someone had managed to get into his room during the night and give him that injection. For what purpose he didn't know, but night time was the only possible moment in which someone would have been able to catch him off guard enough to use a needle on him. He thought he would have felt it if someone pushed a needle into him, but then again, you couldn't feel it when a mosquito bit you either, did you?

Why remove the suppressant in him, though? Who would even do such a thing? To what end?

Instead of answers, he'd only got more questions and he was desperate – and afraid – enough to call in outside help. He'd tried to discover whether any foreign scent had been inside his room, but he couldn't pick up nothing.

He could only smell his dad, Scott, Theo and Erica; nobody else.

Maybe he just wasn't paying enough attention. Could anybody blame him? He no longer was protected by a suppressant, because someone had removed it from his system. _Why_ would they have done that? _Who_ had done that?

His nose didn't yield any answers – but Derek's might.

Derek's scent of smell had always been stronger than his and he hoped that it would be the case this time too. If Derek managed to pick up the scent of whoever had broken into his home and injected him, then he could track that fucking son of a bitch down, get his answers and have the fucker thrown in jail.

At the moment, though, it was all he could do to not break into a panic.

_He wasn't even safe in his own home anymore._

* * *

Derek made it in three minutes and after Stiles had explained him what had happened, his face darkened, his eyes flashing gold as he bared his teeth and stalked upstairs.

Stiles watched him wander through his room, a concentrated look on his face as he sniffed the air, discerning the scents.

"And? Pick up anything odd?" he asked nervously, twisting the edge of his shirt between his fingers.

Derek scowled, turning around to face him. "No, I only pick up your scent, Scott's, your dad's, Erica's," he raised an eyebrow and Stiles flapped his hand, shrugging, not wanting to explain her presence now, "and Raeken's." His eyes darkened at the Alpha's name, clearly not happy with that.

Ice filled the pit of his stomach and Stiles wrapped his arms around himself; his blood rushing loudly in his ears. "If you can't pick up any unknown scent – who injected me then?"

Derek hesitated, before crossing the distance between them in a couple of strides. He pulled Stiles to him, wrapping him up in a hug. "I don't know, Stiles," his chest rumbled against Stiles' ear, "but I swear we're going to figure this out."

Squeezing his eyes shut, Stiles slung his arms around Derek's waist and pressed his face into the man's shoulder, feeling like he was going to break apart any second now.

If he couldn't even feel safe in his own home – where would he be safe then?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but final warning: things are about to grow darker in this story, so prepare yourselves.
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: The chapter turned out to be a bit longer than expected, which is why it wasn't posted sooner *sweatdrops* I hope it isn't too bad!
> 
> Thank you for the kudos and the comments! I'm so happy to see that this story has passed 500 kudos already!
> 
> Warnings: Drama, shit's about to go down. As I warned you all earlier, starting from this chapter we're going to enter the really dark part of the story
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 11_

"You need to tell your dad," Derek said; clenching his glass with iced tea so tightly it was a surprise it hadn't shattered yet.

"I know," Stiles said morosely, rubbing his hands over his face. "I just …"

_Don't know how_. How was he supposed to tell his dad what had happened? He'd have to admit that he'd done something with Theo whilst underneath the influence of Heat Exposure, but he couldn't even remember what. Then he would have to admit that he'd switched his birth control but someone else had messed with that as well. Dad was going to freak the fuck out if he heard all that; his blood pressure would go through the roof and Stiles didn't want to be responsible for the older man potentially having a heart attack.

But he couldn't keep quiet about it either, he knew. His previous suppressants had been a faulty batch from the company, but someone had deliberately messed with his injection. Someone who'd been desperate enough to get him to have his heat that they would go as far as breaking into his house.

Why, though? Why would someone break into his room to give him the counter injection? It just didn't make any sense.

"You can't keep this hidden from him, Stiles," Derek said firmly; his nostrils flaring. "Especially not when someone broke into your room. If you hadn't gone to Erica, who knows – " he cut himself off, looking away chagrined, but it was obvious what he'd been about to say.

If he hadn't spent his heat at Erica's place, what would have happened to him? Had whoever had injected him been following him around? Had that person been waiting for his heat to hit? If so, would they have broken into his room again to …

He shied away from the thought at the same time bile rose up in his throat and he swallowed it down; the bitter acid burning the sensitive tissue. He doubted anyone who had secretly used the counter injection on him would have had good intentions. He didn't know who had done it or even why, but obviously they hadn't been planning anything good.

"I know," he croaked, dragging a hand across his face. "I'm going to tell him when he gets home."

"Which is when?" Derek chanced a quick glance at the digital clock on the microwave.

"In two hours," Stiles sighed, sipping from his cold water just to have something to do with his hands. Apprehension had his stomach clenching together, however, and he barely managed a couple of sips before he pushed his glass away from him.

"I'll stay until your dad's home," Derek decided, crossing his arms and quirking an eyebrow when Stiles opened his mouth to protest.

They held a staring match, daring the other to give in, until Stiles threw up his arms exasperatedly and released an explosive sigh.

"Fine! If you don't have anything better to do, be my guest! You might as well help me prepare dinner then," he groused and Derek smirked pleased, as if he'd won something.

Whatever. Stiles wasn't about to admit that he felt a lot more at ease with Derek sticking around now. Logically he knew that the chances of this creep showing up during the day were close to zero, but well, you could never be too sure.

And it wasn't like he was about to say no to spending more time with Derek either. Even if nothing could happen between them yet, at least he would be able to keep his mind off what had been happening to him lately, even if that reprieve would only last for a little while.

* * *

"Derek," Dad greeted the Beta surprised when he entered the kitchen a couple of hours later. He was still in his uniform, but his gun and badge were gone. "You staying for dinner, son?"

Derek shared a look with Stiles, who was poking one of the hamburgers with a spatula. He must have read something in the younger man's face, because he nodded and stood up. "Yes, if you don't mind."

Dad waved his hand, dragging out one of the other kitchen chairs and sitting down on it with a soft groan. "I don't mind at all. It looks like Stiles made enough for three anyway."

"All right, I'm just going to give my mom a quick call then," Derek said and went outside, pulling his phone out of his pocket and closing the door behind him.

The Sheriff looked at his son. "I didn't know Derek was coming over today."

"A spur of the moment visit," Stiles muttered, not wanting to get into the real reason why Derek was here before they had eaten their dinner. When he turned his head briefly to glance at his dad, the older man was staring at him with one eyebrow lifted up. "What?"

"Nothing." Dad shook his head. His forehead crinkled with a faint frown. "Are you trying to butter me up for something? Did you commit a crime, anything that I should be aware of?"

"What? I didn't do anything wrong!" Stiles cried out offended and the spatula in his hand nearly went flying through the air. "Where's that coming from?!"

Dad jerked his head at the pan hissing and spitting oil. "You're making burgers. You never allow me burgers unless you're trying to sweeten me up for something. So fess up: did you do something?"

"No, I didn't," Stiles sighed aggravatedly, opening the oven to retrieve the buns. "And the burgers are healthy ones."

"Of course they are," Dad sighed, but he still perked up when Stiles put a plate down in front of him; lettuce, slices of tomatoes and cucumber slices nearly hiding the burger from view.

Derek joined them at the table and for a while, they just chattered about dad's work, Stiles' inability to choose a university, the annoying cloying hot weather, all interwoven with the occasional curse when something inevitably slipped from between their hamburger.

"Now, mind telling me what's going on?" Dad gazed at him expectantly an hour later when the last plate had been stacked in the cupboard by Derek.

Stiles froze, halting the process of drying his hands. "Going on?" he asked in a rather squeaky high voice. "Why would something be going on?" He winced at how high his voice became at the end. _Way to remain inconspicuous_.

"I'm not an idiot, Stiles," Dad sighed, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "No matter how healthy it's supposed to be, you only make me hamburgers when you need to tell me something and you don't know how to start. So, what's on your mind?"

"I could go," Derek offered quietly, hovering next to the Omega. "If that would make it easier for you to tell your dad."

"No, I - " Stiles bit his lip, debating whether Derek's presence would help or make things worse in the end. Maybe it would be best if he stayed? If only to help him hold his dad back and keep him from losing it completely once he was informed.

"Stay," he decided and Derek nodded; his sharp features softening for a moment.

"Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?" Dad said irritated.

Taking a deep breath, Stiles took reassurance in the wolf's reassuring presence next to him and started talking; the words pouring out of him like water from a tap once he started. It was as if a dam had been broken and he couldn't hold himself back, even as the older man's face shifted from worry to horror to fury as the story unfolded.

"Why didn't you – you should have told me about this as soon as it happened!" Dad snapped, pacing back and forth in the small kitchen.

"I only got the results this morning!" Stiles bristled; his claws extending and digging lightly into the edge of the counter top.

"Does Raeken remember anything?" Dad demanded, seemingly not paying attention to his son's retort.

"What, from last month? No, I told you, Heat Exposure. He doesn't remember anything more than I do – which is basically nothing," Stiles added bitterly.

"And you didn't pick up any unknown scent?" Dad halted his pacing, scowling at Derek, who shook his head.

"No, sir, nothing that stood out," he replied. He was leaning against the fridge with his arms crossed and looking visibly tense.

"Shit, that means they probably used some kind of spray," Dad muttered, clenching his jaw. "We need to make a report of this. Have you noticed anything strange lately? Maybe someone you don't know who's showing up at places you are?"

"No, at least not that I've noticed," Stiles admitted, forcing himself to retract his claws before he completely ruined the counter top. "Don't know why a stranger would even bother with messing with my suppressants in the first place."

"People can be quite sick," Dad said darkly and rubbed over his chin. "How many people know you switched your suppressants?"

"I told Theo, but that was at the lake, so there were several people nearby," Stiles answered, nibbling at his lower lip. "I wasn't really paying attention to who was listening."

"Hm, that doesn't really narrow it down," Dad muttered; the edge of frustration cutting into his voice. He fell quiet for a moment, contemplating about something before he inhaled deeply. "All right, tomorrow morning we're going to make a report about this and I'll send some deputies over to ask our neighbours whether they've noticed something strange around our house. In the meantime you're going to pack a bag; you'll be staying somewhere else until we've found the bastard who did this to you."

"I have to stay somewhere else?" Stiles repeated startled. "Why?"

"Stiles, whoever did this to you managed to break into your room and apparently wasn't afraid of waking up either one of us," Dad said tersely. "That tells me that this person is highly dangerous and will most likely be back. Who knows what would have happened if you had spent your heat at home?"

Stiles swallowed and wrapped his arms around himself. It was a thought he'd been desperately trying to ignore, because otherwise he would freak out even more than he was already doing.

Dad's face softened a tad. "Look, I'm not trying to scare you, but this is really serious, son. I can't have you staying here when we don't even know yet how that person managed to get into our house in the first place without alerting either one of us. Until we catch this bastard, it's safer for you to spend the nights elsewhere."

_But what if you don't catch them before I leave for university?_ was the question he wanted to ask, but he held himself back and nodded miserably. "All right, yeah, I guess I'll stay with Scott then. He won't mind, I'm sure."

Dad grimaced and hesitated. "Look, son, I wouldn't mind, but I don't think Scott's house is a good place to stay at in this situation."

"Why not?" Stiles asked confused, furrowing his eyebrows. What was suddenly the problem with Scott? He had spent many nights at his best friend's place, to the point where Mama McCall didn't even look up in the morning when she found two boys at her breakfast table instead of just one.

"I know Scott; you can drop a bomb next to him and that boy wouldn't wake up," Dad sighed, resting his hands on his hips. "Given the situation, you need to stay with someone who will be able to wake up if something tries to break in. Sorry, son, but Scott isn't exactly the perfect person for that."

The Omega wrinkled his nose and pursed his lips, but didn't argue, knowing the older man was right. It _was_ quite difficult to wake up Scott once he was asleep; a fact his mother had bemoaned more than once.

"Well, where should I stay then? There aren't that many options left," he pointed out, frowning. The closest family member – a sister of his dad's – was several states away and he didn't care about the possible danger he was in, he wasn't going to leave his friends behind just to move in with his aunt several states away. He would already have to miss his friends when they were all spread out across the country, attending college or university, so he wanted to make the most of the time he still had left with them. He wouldn't be able to do that if he was stuck at his aunt's farm.

"You can stay with Erica," Derek piped up suddenly.

Stiles blinked at him. "Staying with Erica?" he echoed dubiously. Sure, he'd spent his heat at her place, but it was one thing to spend some nights at her house during a heat emergency and a whole other thing to basically move in there until he needed to leave for university.

"Would she notice anything suspicious happening?" Dad questioned thoughtfully.

"She would definitely notice that. Nothing gets past her or Boyd," Derek confirmed, his shoulders relaxing slightly. "She basically guarded Stiles during his heat; you can trust her."

"Would she be okay with Stiles staying over at her place?" Dad wondered.

Derek held up his phone. "I already asked her," he admitted a bit bashfully. "She said she's more than okay with it and I quote, 'I'll kick the shit out of that creep if he even dares to come near the house'."

"That's Erica, all right," Stiles laughed a bit nervously, not surprised at all by her comment. That girl had never been one to take shit from anybody.

"That's settled then," Dad nodded and clapped his hands before pointing at Stiles. "Go get some clothes in a bag; I'm taking you to her place tonight. I'm going to make some calls first," he added and disappeared from the kitchen, presumably going to his study.

"Guess I don't have much of a choice, huh?" Stiles said, a bit sour. It wasn't that he minded staying over at Erica's if she was cool with it, but he absolutely loathed the idea that some kind of creep had actually managed to chase him out of his own house.

"It'll be okay," Derek said soothingly, squeezing his left shoulder softly. "We'll find whoever did this to you. They won't get away with it."

His eyes flashed dangerously and Stiles smiled waveringly. He allowed himself to give the older man a quick hug, inhaling some of his comforting scent, before making his way upstairs to pack a bag.

If anything he guessed he could use this as an opportunity to get used to sleeping without his dad's reassuring presence nearby. Practice for the upcoming academic year and all that, he supposed.

* * *

He renewed his suppressants through an injection the next day, but this time he didn't tell anybody about it except for his dad. He had no clue who could possibly be behind all this, but he wasn't going to take any chances of the creepy weirdo overhearing him telling someone he had got a new shot.

Erica had set up a bed in her own room, explaining that would be the safest option as this person, whoever it might be, would never be able to get past her. When Stiles had inquired whether Boyd had been okay with that arrangement, she had erupted in loud laughter, slapping him on the back and telling him Boyd was more than okay with that, considering Stiles was clearly interested in somebody else. She then had added apologetically that while she thought he was awesome, he couldn't quite measure up to Boyd and well, he guessed that was fair.

It wasn't like Erica could quite measure up to Derek either, so.

* * *

It wasn't until a couple of days after moving in with Erica that an incoming text from Theo reminded him that he hadn't talked to the guy in more than a week now.

' _You're done with your heat or is Reyes still keeping your phone hostage?'_

The weird question had him furrowing his eyebrows and he tapped his spoon slowly against his chin. Erica and Boyd were still outside, sunbathing, but he had retreated into the kitchen to enjoy some chocolate ice cream. His phone buzzing on the counter had drawn his attention right when he'd demolished a third of the ice cream in his bowl.

Theo's odd message prompted him to scroll up, curiosity piqued. He recalled Erica having used his phone to warn his dad and some of his friends where he was staying during his heat, but what had she texted Theo for the Alpha to sound so annoyed even through a simple text?

' _Stiles? It's been a couple of hours since my last text. You okay?'_

' _Erica here. Stiles has his heat and can't come to the phone right now'_

' _What are you doing at his house?'_

' _He's at my house. My place was closer by than his when his heat hit. You can talk to him afterwards'_

' _Unless it's Heat Exposure, he can text me himself. Give him his phone back'_

' _Raeken, if you can't wait a couple of days to talk to him, you're pathetic, man. He'll call you when his heat is over'_

' _I wasn't aware that you're his Alpha, Reyes. Give him his phone back, I need to talk to him. My voice might help him maybe even'_

' _You don't need to do shit, dipshit. I'm not his Alpha, no, but you're not either, so fuck off and be patient. Also god, can you sound even more creepy than that?'_

' _I'm courting him, so yes, I'm his Alpha. Give him the fucking phone back, Reyes, I'm not asking you again'_

' _How about no, dickface? You're not his Alpha at all. Back off before I tell his dad – you know, the Sheriff? – that you're harassing him and not taking no for an answer. How will that work out for you, you think?'_

There were no other messages exchanged between them until Theo's text today. Pressing his lips together, Stiles scrolled back and forth, rereading the texts while a sense of annoyance grew. He really didn't like how Theo considered himself to be his Alpha already. Dude was still officially 'courting' him and he thought he could already call himself Stiles' Alpha? Yeah, fat chance of that.

Even if he actually had genuinely started to like the other man, there was no way he would consider him his Alpha already at this stage. Besides, _his Alpha_? Last time Stiles checked, they weren't living in the Middle Ages anymore and Omega were no longer Alpha's property.

The dude should be glad it had been Erica answering his texts – Stiles would have been a hell of a lot more impolite, given how frustrated he'd been feeling during that time.

Something was nagging at him, though; niggling in the back of his mind. There was something about Theo's texts that unsettled him a bit, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. Maybe it was just the rude way in which he had been talking – or well texting – to Erica, ordering her to return his phone and sounding more agitated every time she refused.

Perhaps it was the offhand comment about his voice assisting Stiles during his heat. Just the thought of having to hear his voice whilst in heat was enough to make his skin crawl. There was no way in hell Theo's voice would ever be able to help him during any of his heats.

' _Sorry about that. Been busy the past couple of days and didn't think to check my messages'_

' _No problem. Glad you're feeling better :)_ _Where are you, though? I'm at your house, but I can't hear you inside'_

Why the hell was Theo at his place? They hadn't agreed to meet up. ' _At a friend's house. why?'_

' _Just figured we could meet up; it's been a while._ _You're back on new suppressants then?'_

' _I'm at Erica's place. You can come over if you want'_ He deliberately ignored the last question, even though over text there was no way his stalker or whatever would be able to know that he was back on suppressants. Better to be safe than sorry, though.

' _What, no new suppressants then? LOL Not sure whether it'd be a good idea for me to come over, though :/'_

' _She's got some great ice cream stashed inside the freezer'_

' _Ha! I'll think about it'_

Honestly, Stiles didn't think it was a good idea either for Theo to come over after the texts he'd exchanged with Erica just a week ago, but he wasn't in the mood to go out alone with Theo.

Either the guy would show up here or he wouldn't. His choice.

In the meantime he would enjoy his bowl of ice cream and try to ignore that nagging feeling in the back of his mind. They were just texts; nothing really wrong with that, right?

* * *

In the weeks following Stiles finally made the decision to attend Berkeley University. With the trip being a six hour drive, give or take depending on the traffic, it was still the closest university to his home and while dad had insisted he shouldn't look at the distance, but rather where he would feel good, he knew he would never be able to feel at ease in a place days away from his dad and his friends.

Six hours was nothing to sniff at; it wasn't like he could just casually pop by before classes, but it would still allow him to visit his dad during the weekends and that was what finally made the decision for him. He could study everywhere, yes, but he would feel a lot better being only separated for around six hours from Beacon Hills than being several states away.

Someone had to keep an eye on his dad after all, was what he'd teased his dad with when he informed him of his decision and the older man had rolled his eyes, but had been happy that his son had finally made his decision.

He would need to leave for Berkeley in the second week of September to make it on time for classes, so he had only a couple of weeks left in Beacon Hills. Only a couple of weeks more with his friends before they would inevitably be separated.

"I'm only a Skype call away, Stiles," Lydia sniffed, adjusting her sunglasses.

"True, but it's not the same," Stiles sighed, biting absentmindedly at his straw. There was only a bit of soda left in the paper cup and he made an obnoxiously loud slurping noise when he sucked it up.

She raised an eyebrow and puckered her glossy pink lips. "I'm sure you'll find ways to bug me even through Skype," she remarked and rose up from the plastic chair. "Now let's go. I don't want to be late for our movie."

He grinned and stood up as well. "Yes, my queen."

"Damn right I am," she murmured, but her smile was genuine when she allowed Stiles to link their arms together.

God, he would miss her. Talking with her through a screen just wouldn't be the same.

* * *

In spite of the increased surveillance around the neighbourhood, there was no sign of anyone behaving suspiciously around the Stilinski house. None of the neighbours had noticed anything particularly out of the ordinary and it wasn't like there was much evidence in Stiles' room either – if at all.

So Stiles kept spending the nights at Erica's house, doing his best to ignore the sense of paranoia creeping up at him every time he set foot outside.

* * *

"Oh come on, baby," Stiles pleaded, pulling up the hood and staring helplessly at the parts displayed before him. "You can't do this to me now. You're supposed to get me to Berkeley in a couple of weeks, remember?"

His beautiful Jeep, Roscoe, just kept producing the familiar clanking noise of the engine cooling down, as if he'd merely parked it at the side of the road for fun instead of her breaking down suddenly.

"I don't even know what I'm doing," he muttered frustrated, running his eyes over the different parts again before giving it up. He had no clue what the hell was wrong with his jeep now and he didn't even want to consider how much the reparation would cost this time. He loved his car, but damn did she suck his wallet dry at times.

Closing the hood, he stared at the blue paint, chipped at a couple of places. "You're not going to get us back to the house at least?" he asked morosely and looked around resigned.

Thanks to an unexpected roadblock, he'd been forced to take a longer route to his house. Of course today of all days, when the sun had hidden behind some dark clouds and it looked like it was actually going to start pouring any minute now, his car had decided to give up and break down near an old warehouse. He wasn't even sure whether the warehouse was still in use. It looked empty and rather sad; he was pretty sure one of the windows at the upper level was broken.

"Fine, guess I'll call my dad then," he sighed, opening the door to the driver's side to retrieve his phone and wallet. He would call someone later to tow his car to the garage.

"Stiles? What are you doing here?"

"Holy shit! I didn't hear you!" Stiles whirled around, hands clutching his wallet and phone while his heart skipped several beats.

Theo blinked at him, closing the door of his own car behind him. Stiles had heard a car approaching, of course, he wasn't deaf, but he hadn't thought the car would actually stop nor had he expected to run into Theo today.

"What are you doing here?" Theo repeated and threw a confused look at the jeep. "Car trouble?"

"Yeah, Roscoe decided she has enough of driving for today," Stiles sighed, running a hand tiredly through his hair. "Was about to call my dad to pick me up. Or maybe one of his deputies could pick me up, I don't know."

"I could drive you home," Theo offered before smiling shyly. "I'm glad I see you today actually. I haven't heard from you in a while, so I was heading over to your house. Thought you might be in heat and that's why you didn't contact me."

"Sorry about that," Stiles said awkwardly, stuffing his wallet in his back pocket. "I've been busy with packing up my stuff after deciding which university I'll be attending."

That and he'd kind of been avoiding the Alpha during the last couple of weeks. The couple of times he had met up with him, at least one or two of his friends had been there as well, acting as some sort of chaperone. The niggling feeling still hadn't disappeared and while he had yet to figure out what was bothering him, he knew it had something to do with the Alpha standing in front of him now. Because he was a big fan of ignoring a problem until it went away, he'd fallen into the pattern of avoiding the other man as much as he could get away with it. He knew it didn't really solve anything, least of all the question why he suddenly felt so unsettled around him, but it had been a tactic he'd grown quite fond of.

Theo frowned and cocked his head. "You're attending university?" he questioned, sounding perplexed as if the idea alone was incredibly outlandish.

"Well, yeah, dude, what did you expect?" Stiles grinned weakly and shrugged. "I worked my butt off to get into those classes. Why wouldn't I go?"

"Because I'm Courting you," Theo said slowly, a bit bemused.

Brown eyes blinked. "So? What does that have to do with me studying at a university?" Stiles asked flabbergasted.

Something akin to irritation briefly crossed the Alpha's face. "I can't exactly Court you if you're miles away at a university, can I?"

Stiles rolled his shoulders and uttered a soft sigh. "Pretty sure we're not the only ones in this particular situation, dude. We'll figure something out," he said lightly and bent down into the car to retrieve his keys before locking the jeep.

"I didn't expect you to attend classes for as long as our Courting ran," Theo retorted and this time the annoyance was audible in his voice, as clear as day even.

"You can't expect me to put my life on hold for this, Theo," Stiles said sharply, scowling at him. Had this guy really thought Stiles would give up his studies for his Courting? Was he insane? Who the hell would put their lives on hold for a Courting? Nobody sane in this day and age!

"I can't even expect you to put some effort into this, so I guess it was stupid of me to assume you would put off university for a bit longer, huh?" Theo laughed bitterly and took a step closer.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Stiles narrowed his eyes. "I've been meeting up with you - "

"I've been doing my best these past couple of months to Court you, but you keep being dismissive!" Theo suddenly burst out; his eyes alight with anger. "Do you really think I haven't noticed that you've been avoiding me for these past couple of weeks? Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"Apparently you really are that stupid if you expect anything to come out of this!" Stiles exploded, finally done with this shit. Hadn't he been clear from the fucking start that he wasn't interested in him?! "I didn't choose you, so don't blame me if I'm not as interested in this wooing bullshit as you are!"

Theo appeared taken aback for a couple of seconds as if Stiles had slapped him, before he regained his composure and sneered. "No, I guess you rather want that pathetic Beta instead of an actual Alpha, huh?"

"That ' _pathetic Beta_ ' managed to catch me – something an almighty Alpha like you couldn't even do. So really, who's the pathetic one here?" Stiles smiled poisonously, watching satisfied how Theo's face reddened. "Big, tough Alpha had to use an underhanded rule to get an Omega – shows just how pathetic you are."

Blue eyes narrowed dangerously and Theo balled his hands into fists. "It's not underhanded if it's a rule," he spoke coldly.

"The fact that you need a rule like that to get the one you want says everything about you," Stiles spat and flipped him the finger. "I've been trying to be nice about this, but you knew from the start that I'm already spoken for and it sure as fuck isn't you and won't ever be you. At least keep the last bit of self-respect you have left and walk away, dude. You can try for as long as you want, but I'm never going to be interested in you."

"You sure about that? You might want to rethink that," Theo stated and there was something in the way he said it that made Stiles still and regard him warily.

"Are you threatening me?" he asked in disbelief.

Theo lifted an eyebrow. "I've still got two months left to Court you," he said calmly.

The nagging feeling suddenly grew worse and before Stiles could think twice, he blurted out, "Are you the one who removed the suppressants out of my system last month?"

"Why would you ask that?" Theo asked; face completely blank.

_He didn't deny it_. He wasn't denying it. That realisation ran rampant in Stiles' mind and his heartbeat was suddenly loud in his ears, hammering in his chest.

If he hadn't done that, surely he would be denying that assumption, wouldn't he? But he gave no outright answer, just asked why Stiles would question him about that – because that way _his heart wouldn't give him away._

If he hadn't given Stiles the counter injection, he could have just said that. If he was the one who had broken into Stiles' room, however, and he denied it now, his heart would betray him.

_Heartbeats never lie._

As clear as day he could recall his mother telling him that several times, every time he tried to get away with a lie.

"My little Mischief, heartbeats never lie," she would laugh, patting his chest gently. "You can fib as much as you want, but I'll always be able to hear it."

One could get away with half-truths, small white lies maybe even – but one could never straight out lie.

For Theo to not deny it instantly …

Derek hadn't picked up any unknown scent, he realised with a sickening feeling. They had all been so focused on thinking some unknown creep was after Stiles, that they had ended up ignoring the most obvious answer: that the lack of an unknown scent meant the culprit was someone known.

Scott would never mess with his suppressants, his dad definitely wouldn't do that, Erica had no reason – but Theo did.

Theo who was so hellbent on Courting him, who had been asking those questions about his suppressants …

In hindsight, Stiles should have realised this all much sooner. God, he'd been so _oblivious_. How could he have not seen this before? The answer had been there all along and he just hadn't seen it. All the little clues – Theo's questions about his suppressants, his remarks about his heats, his annoyance with Erica for keeping him away from Stiles – finally fell into place, revealing the bigger picture.

"Stay the fuck away from me!" he demanded snarling and whipped his phone out of his pocket. "I don't know what the hell you were thinking, but you're fucked up! I'm going to call my dad and you're going down, buddy. I can't wait to see you in jail!"

"You might want to rethink that course of action," Theo remarked blankly, holding up his own phone in the air, his thumb resting on a button.

"Yeah? Why the fuck would I do that?" Stiles bared his teeth, already scrolling down in his contact list to find his dad's number.

"Because certain … things might happen if you make that call," Theo murmured; his eyes dark. "Things to people you love – like say, your dad."

"You think you can threaten my dad, you fuck?" Stiles snarled and pressed on the call button, lifting his phone to his ear while glaring at Theo.

The man in question just cocked his head and shrugged, his thumb pushing down before he lowered his phone. He made no move to get away, though, and it took every last bit of restraint in him to not attack the fucking son of a bitch.

_Who did he think he was, threatening his dad?!_

"Stiles?" Dad sounded distracted when he picked up and in the background, someone was calling a code through the radio. "What's up, son? I can't talk for long, Parrish and I were called down for a crash downtown."

"Dad, it's Theo," Stiles said, taking several steps away from him. Theo just looked at him, smiling, and the empty look in his eyes was enough to make a shiver run down the Omega's spine.

_The guy was fucked up._

"What about him, Stiles?"

"He's the one who - "

"Wait, what the hell is that guy doing?" Dad suddenly cursed. "Parrish, watch out, he's going to - "

The deafening sound of metal crashing against metal, tires screeching madly, had Stiles jerking his phone away. Someone screamed before the noise was abruptly cut off and then only silence remained.

"Dad?" Stiles asked with a trembling voice, panic seeping in quickly, restricting his lungs, making it harder to breath as his heart kept pounding away, ringing filling his ears, drowning out everything else. "Dad? Dad! Answer me!"

Nothing. _No reply._

As Stiles stood there frozen, his world crashing down around him, Theo murmured silkily, "Like I said, you might want to rethink your decision."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: So yes, starting from here on, we're going to enter the dark part of the story. Warnings will be updated accordingly, but expect some shit to happen.
> 
> I hope this wasn't too rushed! Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: The beginning gave me some trouble, but at least I still managed to finish it on time!
> 
> Thank you for the kudos and the comments!
> 
> Warnings: Angst; disturbed Theo; description of dead bodies
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 12_

" _I can't tell you much yet; they've only just brought the both of them in. Wait here, okay?"_

" _Your dad's tough, Stiles. I'm sure he'll pull through. I have to go now, but I'll be back once I've got news, I promise."_

" _Hey, everything's going to be okay."_

Melissa's voice kept echoing in his mind as he clung to her reassuring comments, clutching at the belief that everything would be fine.

It was hard to believe that, though, when he was in the exact same place where he'd lost his mother before. If he lost his dad now as well, then …

No, he couldn't think like that. His dad would get better, he was sure of it. What was an accident for someone with accelerated healing? Nothing, right? He'd be fine. Then he remembered the screeching noise of metal crushing and screams of agony and he cringed, burying his face in his hands. His breathing was loud in his ears, which was funny, because he felt like he just couldn't get enough air in his lungs, no matter how hard he tried. His lungs refused to inflate and black spots were slowly forming in front of his eyes and god, please not now, he really couldn't deal with a panic attack now, not here, not when his dad …

The sound of approaching high heels ripped him out of the swirl of panic he'd almost got trapped in and his head shot up, heart going into overdrive. Lydia was making her way over to him, her hands clutching her Prada bag and her eyes glittering wetly. Her face was almost completely devoid of make-up, save for some mascara and some lip gloss and her hair was pulled together in a messy ponytail. Her lips were pressed tightly together, resembling a thin line, and she said nothing when she sank down in the chair next to him.

She toed off her blue high heels and pulled her legs up, looking more like a lost, scared girl than the powerful woman she normally was. One of her hands found his and her fingers curled around his tightly while she placed her head on his shoulder. Her whole body was tense and she uttered a sound of dismay when he untangled their hands, before relaxing a bit when he threw his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in a more comfortable position. His other hand found hers and he linked them together, resting them on his thigh.

There, they remained seated for a long time. She, waiting for news of her mate and he, desperate to hear news about his dad. Both praying that when a nurse would approach them, it would be with a smile and not a frown.

Nothing else mattered at this point.

* * *

"The surgery went well."

"It wasn't easy at times, but he pulled through. He's got five broken ribs of which two of them punctured his lungs. His left arm is broken in two places and his right leg was shattered from below the knee. He lost quite some blood and had to get a couple of transfusions. He's got some massive bruising in his abdominal area and he sustained a minor headwound."

A hand on his shoulder, squeezing it softly. "I know all of that sounds rather scary, but he's going to heal completely, I swear. Even his shattered leg will grow back once he's got enough time to heal."

"How long will it be before he's completely better?"

"If he doesn't exert himself and rests like he's supposed to, he should be all better in a week, a week and a half at most."

"Can – can I go see him?"

"Of course you can, sweetheart. He should wake up soon."

His heart was pounding madly as he rushed through the corridors, ignoring the nurses and doctors mingling around. He only had one destination in mind and that was the room at the end of the third floor. Melissa had told him the good news, but he would only allow himself to be fully relieved once he saw with his own eyes that his dad would be okay.

Visiting hours were nearly over, but he didn't care about that. They would have to make an exception this one time, because he wasn't going to leave this hospital without checking that his dad was fine.

He barely kept the door from slamming straight into the wall when he flung it open with all his might and he stumbled inside, his eyes going straight to the lone bed inside the room. There were machines on both sides of the bed, beeping in a slow, regular rhythm and several wires were connected to them; he would probably trip over them if they hadn't been so high up in the air.

He didn't care about the machines, though. All his attention was aimed at the figure lying in the middle of the bed, nearly swallowed up by the white blankets. A white bandage covered his forehead and an IV-line was inserted in his right hand. Even with the blankets covering most of his body from view, they hardly could hid the fact that the Alpha looked like shit; ashen pale in the stark bright lights of the hospital room.

Hands clammy and stomach attempting to revolt, Stiles shuffled towards the bed, swallowing down the lump in his throat when dad opened his eyes slowly and turned his head slightly to look at him.

A weak crooked smile appeared on his lips. "Hey, kiddo," he murmured, voice rough, and turned his left hand so that his palm was visible. "How are you doing?"

A strangled noise – it could be a sob, it could be a hysterical chuckle, who the fuck knew – escaped him and he grabbed dad's hand. He wanted to squeeze it tightly, but didn't dare; the older man looking so fragile right now, he was scared he would break him if he tightened his grip even for a little bit.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" he croaked out and when dad grimaced, hot tears sprang forth, leaving a blazing hot trail behind on his cheeks before he wiped them away roughly. "Fuck, dad, you scared the shit out of me, you know that? I've been waiting for hours for news and I was so scared that Mama McCall would come out and say that, say that - " he choked on the rest of the words, not brave enough to finish his sentence.

"Hey, hey, I'm okay," Dad hushed and raised one arm up, beckoning him closer.

Stiles immediately hugged him, careful not to disturb the wires, and buried his face in dad's neck, smelling the overpowering scent of disinfectants and pain. Underneath it all, though, was the comforting scent of his dad.

"Don't say that when you're lying in the hospital," he rasped, hands grasping at dad's shoulders. "You could have died!"

"But I didn't," Dad said calmly, rubbing soothingly up and down across his back. "It's not as bad as it looks, I promise."

"Your lungs were punctured and your leg is crushed," Stiles stated flatly, pulling back a little to stare at him. "I wouldn't call that 'not as bad as it looks', dad."

"Nothing that won't heal," Dad grunted, gingerly patting his hurt leg. "More of an annoyance than anything else, really."

Stiles shook his head and sat down on the bed, balancing on the edge. "What happened?" he asked. He'd seen some deputies patrolling the corridors, but none of them had come forwards to talk to him. Granted, they probably didn't know much either, given that two of the main witnesses had been in surgery for hours.

Dad grimaced. "Don't know really. All I can remember is a car – I think a beat up Honda – crashing into us before speeding away."

"Have you seen who was behind the wheel?"

"Some young man, I think. I couldn't get a good look at him," Dad sighed. "Hopefully some people in that street will be able to give a better description. Have you heard how Jordan's doing?"

"He's faring a bit better than you," Stiles answered. He and Lydia had split up after Melissa had informed them about the surgeries. Parrish was in a room around the corridor and Lydia had gone to visit him. "Some broken bones and some blood loss, but he'll be back on his feet soon."

"Good," Dad nodded, looking relieved. "I don't know whether he was able to get a better view of the car, but I'm glad he's all right."

"Yeah, me too," Stiles said softly. Parrish was a great guy; it would have been a blow to lose him.

"On another note," Dad said lightly, "What did you want to tell me when you called me earlier?"

Stiles stared at him, taking in the expectant look on the older man's face. Then he recalled Theo's warning and smiled weakly, "Nothing important, don't worry about it."

" _Remember that I've got eyes everywhere. One wrong move, one wrong word, Stiles, and next time something worse will happen, I promise you that."_

* * *

He waved at Joanne, the deputy who'd driven him home, and unlocked the front door. He would need to call a towing truck in the morning for his car and ask one of his friends to drive him to the hospital with a bag for his dad, but now all he wanted was to fall down in his bed and go to sleep.

The adrenaline was starting to wear off, leaving a bone deep weariness behind and a head too heavy to keep upright. It had to be somewhere after midnight now and the whole house was silent, darkness cloaking everything in shadows. Slowly he made his way upstairs, forgoing the shower for now. He'd texted Erica in the car to let her know he wouldn't crash at her place tonight, but would fill her in on everything in the morning.

What he could tell her anyway, considering …

He became aware of the second heartbeat too late. He froze on top of the landing and stared at the closed door of his bedroom, behind which someone was waiting for him. That someone was none other than –

"What are you doing here?" he asked flatly, pushing open his door and staring at the figure casually lounging in his computer chair.

Theo smiled and stood up, his thumbs hooked behind the loops of his jeans. "Just wanted to check whether you're okay," he said, smiling, as if he wasn't the cause of Stiles' misery right now.

"Do I look okay to you, asshole?" Stiles spat, fingers tightening around the doorknob. He started trembling, not with fear this time but with anger and he wondered whether he'd be fast enough to rip off that bastard's face.

Theo tutted. "I know you're mad now, but you're the one who insisted on being difficult," he said, raising an eyebrow. "If you would just comply, I wouldn't have had to go that far."

"You're fucked up in the head," Stiles gritted out, his claws drawing blood from his hand when he clenched his fist.

"Aren't we all a bit?" Theo chuckled and then crossed the distance between them so quickly, Stiles barely had time to stumble backwards. A hand shot out and gripped his chin painfully hard, pulling his face roughly upwards, forcing him to look the Alpha in the eye. "Things between us can be so good, Stiles, if only you allow it to be. I've got a couple of months left to Court you; I'm sure you'll love me eventually."

"That will only happy when hell freezes over!" Stiles snarled, lashing out with his claws.

He grazed Theo's cheek before the man swiftly stepped backwards; his eyes glinting in the darkness. His teeth flashed when he murmured silkily, "That might happen sooner than you think. I'll see you again soon, Stiles. Sweet dreams." He turned around towards the staircase. "And remember, one wrong move and something worse might happen to your dad. Or your friends. I'm not picky either way."

The threat still hanging in the air, the Alpha descended the staircase and a minute later, the front door opened and closed again, leaving Stiles alone in the house.

He barely reached the toilet on time before he started throwing up.

* * *

"You've got everything, dad?" Stiles questioned, placing another cooled water bottle on the table.

Dad gave him a fond smile and shook the remote. "Yeah, don't worry. I'm set for the entire afternoon," he chuckled. "What are you going to do? You want to watch the game with me?"

"Nah, I'm going to mess around on the internet for a bit before I start making dinner," Stiles grinned. "Just call me if you need something else, all right?"

"Or I can get it myself. I'm not an invalid." Dad gave him a pointed look.

Stiles waggled his finger at him. "You've heard what Mama McCall said yesterday: you still need to rest as much as possible and not put any strain on your leg. That means not getting up if you don't need to."

"You're so fussy," Dad grumbled, switching on the television.

"Or maybe I'm just concerned," Stiles shot back before making his way upstairs, carrying a plate with some sandwiches and a soda can wedged between his arm and side.

Dad had been allowed to leave the hospital last weekend, but he was still on forced rest until at least next Monday; the break in his leg worse than they had initially thought. The bone had been shattered so badly, it was taking him longer than expected to heal. The forced rest had dad grumbling and annoyed by it, but Stiles wouldn't allow him to do anything more strenuous than going to the bathroom. The more dad rested, the quicker he'd be back on his feet.

He'd complained that as the sheriff of this town, his presence at the precinct was necessary, but Stiles had retorted that he could look at the files in the comfort of his own home as well. It wasn't like the deputies stayed away from the house, after all. The first couple of days after dad had returned home, it had been a steady coming and going of deputies, all wanting to see with their own eyes that their boss was okay. Parrish had been here several times already; the last time carrying some files for the sheriff to work on during his forced leave.

The station had been trying to track down the one who'd rammed his car into the sheriff, but so far none of them had been lucky. The car seemed to have disappeared like smoke and with no license plates, the cameras on the streets were useless as well.

The two deputies informing dad about the progress of the investigation – or the lack of it – had been both equally frustrated and angry. An attack on the sheriff was considered an attack on all of them and none of them were happy about the lack of clues that could help them find the driver.

Even Talia Hale had shown up at their house a few days ago to inquire about the investigation. She'd stayed for a few hours, sharing coffee and cake with Stiles and his dad (considering dad's leg had been literally shattered, Stiles had decided his old man deserved some leeway when it came to unhealthy food) and had promised they would find the car and bring the guy to justice, no matter how long it would take.

Stiles had appreciated the sentiment, but all he had been able to think of during her visit was that he couldn't come too close to her in case her scent got wrapped up in his. Normally he wouldn't have cared about that – he really liked her, had from the first moment he'd met her – but Theo's threats lurked in the back of his mind and after what had happened to his dad, he'd realised just how dangerous the other man could be.

He didn't know how Theo had done it, but somehow he'd convinced someone to drive their car into the one his dad had been driving in. Not only that, but this other person had to have been tailing his dad for a while. It was only after Stiles had threatened to reveal that Theo had been the one to mess with his suppressants, that the incident had happened. One press of Theo's thumb and the other guy had made his move. Given how little time there had been between Stiles' call and the cars crashing against each other, the other person had to have been tailing his dad – how else could he have got there so quickly?

And if that guy had been tailing his dad – how long had he been doing that? How spread out was Theo's network? Did he have someone tailing every single one of Stiles' friends in case Stiles 'stepped out of line'?

Stiles desperately wanted to tell his dad what Theo was doing, that he was the one who'd orchestrated the whole crash, but he was terrified of what would happen if he did. Dad would believe him, no doubt, but what would Theo do if he found out Stiles had opened his mouth? Did he have someone keeping an eye on him right now – or was he currently keeping an eye on him?

The not knowing what Theo was exactly doing, _why_ he was doing it, was making him paranoid and had him jumping at every shadow he saw. The daily messages of the Alpha didn't help him either; the texts making it very clear what Theo expected of him.

' _I'm going to pick you up to watch a movie and this time we're going to make it a private date. No friends of yours crashing our date like usual, just the two of us'_

' _I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this, but I really don't like the scent of the Hales on you. It makes me restless, you know? ^^; I hope you won't mind, but would you limit your meetings with them a bit? It's just weird to smell my competitor on you, you know? LOL'_

' _How's your dad doing? Hopefully better than last week!'_

' _Saw Deputy Parrish in the store today; I'm glad to see he's doing better :)_ _Crashes like that one can end really ugly after all'_

The texts appeared so innocent at first glance, made him sound shy at times and friendly, but Stiles knew better. There was nothing shy or friendly about Theo Raeken. A dangerous psychopath came closer to describing him.

He wanted nothing more than to see his fucked up ass thrown in jail, but he needed to find a way to keep his dad and his friends safe first. As long as he didn't know how big Theo's network was, he couldn't make a move. He couldn't endanger his family or his friends, so he endured the man's presence for now – even if it made him sick to the stomach to let him touch him and kiss his cheeks.

He would need to do something soon, though, because the date of leaving for the university came closer and closer, but Theo had made it clear what would happen if he went. He had to find something before his friends became suspicious as well and they would soon, no doubt about that.

_God, he fucking hated Theo Raeken._

Dragging his laptop closer, he logged in and went straight to the police's database. He was still trying to come up with a way to end whatever game Theo was playing, but his lack of ideas was making him frustrated and he needed some distraction before he started going crazy.

What better way to distract himself than to look through the files of the serial killer again? He wouldn't be disturbed by his dad, so he could look through the files as much as he wanted to as long as he got up in time to make dinner. Hell, maybe he would stumble upon a link, a clue or something like that, that the deputies hadn't discovered yet.

"Huh." He stared blankly at the file he'd pulled up. There had been another body found three days ago, which made the total of victims six now. Fuck, this killer wasn't joking around, huh?

The sixth victim had – yet again – been found in the clearing with the tree stump, but this time the man – an elderly man of seventy – had been strangled; his trachea crushed. He'd been dead for at least a day before someone had discovered his body.

Were they really looking for a serial killer? So far each person had been killed in a different way; didn't serial killers usually have one way of killing, a manner that set them apart from all the others? But then again, it would be a really big coincidence if six different killers all had decided to dump their victims in the same place. The first two, all right, yeah, he could imagine that, but these murders had hit the newspapers, so one would have to be very stupid to go to a crime scene to dump his victim – or one had to be very bold.

While the six different ways in which the victims had been killed made it more likely to assume that six different murders were active, that was both a terrifying and unsettling thought and highly unlikely considering all six victims had been found in the same place. That much coincidence just couldn't exist, not even in a place like Beacon Hills.

So one murderer, but why the six different ways? Was there a reason behind that or was it all just nilly willy, whatever the killer had been in the mood for that day?

"Let's see," he mumbled, retrieving a notebook and a pen from his desk.

The first victim, Elisabeth Crown, had been practically mauled to death with the cause of death ultimately being ruled as severe blood loss from her throat being ripped open. It had looked like an animal had attacked her – or someone in his animal form. The latter seemed more likely, given that there hadn't been any evidence of mountain lions in the Preserve. So murder disguised as an animal attack.

The second one, Jonathan Green, had been killed by a knife through the heart; instant death. Marc Franklin had been buried alive; no bloodshed there, instead he'd been suffocated by dirt.

The fourth one had been burned alive; it had been a thirty year old woman named Samantha Bellings.

The fifth victim had just been a kid; a ten year old boy. Nausea filled him when he read the information about the poor kid. Nathan Summers had been found near the tree stump again, soaked to the bone. Cause of death: drowning. The murderer had first drowned him in the lake before dumping his body in the clearing.

The most recent victim had been an elderly man named Peter Mullen. Strangled manually; trachea completely crushed.

Six victims, six different ways in which they'd been killed, and none of them had any connection to the others whatsoever. Yet they had all been dumped around the same tree stump. So what linked them together? What had made the killer seek them out and murder them in those ways?

Mauled by an animal; stabbed to death; buried alive; set on fire; drowned and strangled. None of those methods had anything in common. The first two had drawn blood, true, but the others hadn't. Perhaps one could consider the strangulation and the burial as related to each other, because they both had deprived the victims from air, but …

Pondering he stared at the pictures of the victims, placed next to each other on the screen. Two women and four men – or three men and a boy. Both sexes had been targeted, so whether one was female or male didn't seem to have anything to do with it.

The ages ranged from young to old, so it couldn't have anything to do with that either. The hair colour was different, the races were different … Nothing linked them together seemingly, aside from apparently being murdered by the same person who had a weird fixation on that tree stump.

What was it even about that tree stump that made it so special for the killer? What exactly drew the murderer to that place?

He couldn't find anything special about the stump in the reports. No mention of any evidence or signs carved in it, or …

Wait.

Frowning, he scrolled up again and then clicked rapidly through the different reports detailing each death. They had nothing to link each other – except that Deaton had been present and consulted at every scene.

Why the hell would Deaton be needed at a crime scene? At every murder scene even? There was no need for a druid to attend a murder scene; that was out of his jurisdiction so to speak.

Unless …

Stiles' eyes widened and he grabbed his notebook, staring at the list of names and their causes of death. There would be no need for Deaton to get involved – unless his expertise would be necessary to aid the investigation. Him being a druid, there could only be one reason for the police to call in his help.

With that in mind, he went over the list again, compiling in his mind every titbit of information he'd read about druids and magic in general. There were certain kind of elements which were important to druids and to any magical users in general. The four nature elements were the most famous one; the ones most people tended to think of when thinking about druids and what they did.

The third victim – he'd been buried alive. That could refer to the earth, couldn't it? The next element: fire. The fourth victim had been burned alive. Third element: water. The boy had been drowned. The fourth element: air. The last victim had been strangled; his air supply cut off.

Earth, fire, water, air. The four nature elements. What would one use those elements for?

_For a ritual._

His heart started to beat quicker and his fingers tightened around the paper. Was that it? Was that the clue? Were these people murdered for some kind of ritual? Where did that place the first two victims? Their deaths obviously couldn't be attributed to any of the nature elements, so under what kind of 'requirement' did they fall? Blood had been drawn – could that be it?

If the killer was indeed working on a ritual, what kind of purpose did it have? What was the end game, the goal of this ritual? He didn't know much about rituals and their set up, but he knew enough to realise that considering the ritual required people to be killed, it couldn't be anything good.

Did this mean that the killer was some kind of druid? Or did one not have to be a druid necessarily to perform a ritual?

Well, there was only one person who could answer his questions.

* * *

"You want to speak to Deaton?" Scott asked surprised, looking up from the laptop on which he'd been arranging appointments. "Why?"

"Just got some questions about his work as a druid," Stiles replied vaguely, waving his hand haphazardly through the air and nearly knocking a plant off the counter. "Is he in?"

"Oh, you're thinking about becoming a druid?" Scott grinned. "That's cool, man! Yeah, he's in. He's not with any patients now, so I don't think he'll mind if you talk to him now."

Stiles grinned and thumped his friend's shoulder. "Okay, man, thanks!"

He passed through the door which separated the front from the back and walked through the narrow corridor before he ended up in front of Deaton's office. The man in question looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"Mister Stilinski, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" he inquired mildly, rising up from his chair. "You have a pet that requires assistance?"

"You think my dad would let me have one?" Stiles snorted and entered the room, pulling the door shut behind him. He didn't expect Scott to listen in – he wasn't as sneaky as Stiles was – but he liked the illusion of privacy that the closed door gave.

"Then I'm not sure why you're visiting me," Deaton said, watching him with mild curiosity.

"I'm here to ask you a couple of questions about your druid work, if you don't mind," Stiles said lightly, stopping in front of the desk.

Deaton blinked. "Of course. Ask away. I'll try my best to answer."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Stiles said, faux cheerfully, and slapped his notebook down on the desk. "See, I was looking through the reports about the serial killer my dad's been hunting down these past couple of months."

"I'm pretty sure that your father requested you to keep out of this," Deaton remarked blandly, but Stiles waved it off.

"And I couldn't help but notice that each report mentioned your name." He stared at the man, who gazed back calmly, appearing unruffled as always. "That got me thinking, you know? Why would the police request the help of a druid for something as a murder?"

Deaton remained quiet.

"But then I considered their causes of death again and it suddenly hit me: these are not normal murders, are they?" Stiles asked, cocking his head. Tapping the page, he said, "These people were killed as part of a ritual, weren't they?"

"What makes you think that?" Deaton asked politely; his eyes flickering to the page once.

"The presence of the four nature elements," Stiles replied, studying the older man carefully. "One victim was buried alive, which could be linked to the element of earth. Another one was set on fire, which clearly is a reference to the fire element. Then we've got one who was drowned: the element of water, easy. The fourth one was strangled and I suppose that one isn't that clear immediately, but you can still link it to the element of air. I can't immediately link the first two victims to the ritual, but I'm guessing their blood has something to do with it. Am I right?"

"Quite the detective work you've been doing, Mister Stilinski. Although I'm pretty certain your father wouldn't be happy with that."

"Am I right or not?" Stiles repeated stubbornly, clenching his jaw. When the druid didn't reply, he nodded grimly. "I am. What kind of ritual requires so many bodies? Do you know who's behind this? Is that why the police has been calling on you for help? What's the purpose of this ritual? Does that tree stump have anything to do with all of this?"

Deaton opened his mouth, but was interrupted by his phone ringing loudly. "Apologies, I have to take this one," he said apologetically.

Stiles huffed and rocked back on his heels, impatience brewing inside of him. He knew he was on the right track even if Deaton kept being evasive. He just needed the guy to confirm his suspicions.

"Alan?"

His ears pricked when he recognised Talia's voice on the other end of the line. Why was she calling him now?

"Yes, Talia? How can I help you?"

Even from the other side of the desk, Stiles had no trouble picking up the tremor in her voice when she said, "Alan, she's – she's gone. Someone kidnapped Cora! Someone took my little girl!"

His blood turned into ice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: Yeah, another cliffhanger. Sorry, not sorry LOL
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me!
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: I had a bit of trouble putting this chapter together, so I hope it isn't too bad!
> 
> Thank you for all the kudos and the comments! I really appreciate them!
> 
> Warnings: Hm, angst I guess? There's nothing really specific that needs a warning I think
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 13_

"Cora's gone?" Stiles repeated, his voice sounding weird in his own ears as if there was some kind of echo.

Someone had taken Cora? Why? Where? What the hell were they planning with her? Was it meant as some kind of attack on Talia?

Or was it …

"Yes, she unfortunately is," Deaton confirmed, putting his phone into his pocket and retrieving a small briefcase from underneath his desk. "I'm afraid that I'll have to cut our meeting short. As you'll undoubtedly understand, the mayor requires my assistance."

"Wait, shouldn't the police be called?" Stiles questioned, the papers of his notebooks crinkling and bending when his fingers tightened around the sides.

_Cora was gone._

"I'm certain they were called," Deaton said, remaining completely unruffled as if he hadn't just received a phone call from a terrified mother. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go now. We'll have to continue our discussion another time."

He was politely, but firmly ushered out of the office and Deaton locked the door before striding out of the hallway, leaving Stiles behind. Scott was still seated behind the desk when he emerged from the hallway and the smile his friend threw him told him Deaton hadn't said anything to him about Cora having been abducted.

"Hey, man, did Deaton manage to help you out a bit?" he asked grinning.

"Er, yeah, he did. Say, I'm off now, I still have to buy some stuff for dinner," Stiles fibbed and thanked the gods when Scott just nodded, not paying attention to his heartbeat after being best friends with him for so long.

There was a part of him that wanted to stay and tell Scott what had just happened, but what would that do? It wasn't like Scott could do much and he wasn't close with the Hales to start with. No, Stiles' best chance now was to go home and wait for his dad to arrive so he could get some answers.

Not that waiting would be easy, not when he knew Cora was missing and all his mind could do was come up with all kinds of reasons why someone would kidnap her, but he couldn't do much now.

Not yet at least.

So he would play the waiting game and hopefully at least _some_ of his questions would get answered today.

* * *

Dad didn't come home until the early morning hours and Stiles knew that meant bad news. He didn't even need to look at his dad's haggard face or smell the pure frustration rolling off of him in waves.

"You didn't find Cora yet?" he asked anyway, his fingers clenching around the doorframe of dad's bedroom.

"Kid, shouldn't you still be asleep?" Dad threw a pointed look at the clock, which announced it was barely past six.

Stiles ignored that. "Did you find any leads to Cora yet?"

"How do you even know she disappeared?" Dad frowned, halting in changing his shirt for a fresh one. "Did you listen to the radio again?" His disapproval was tempered by a note of exhaustion and Stiles wondered whether he'd been up all night, going over every piece of evidence they had.

He probably had, because that was just how the sheriff was.

"I was with Deaton when Talia called him," Stiles answered impatiently. "Dad, do you have an idea where she is?"

Dad sank down on the bed and ran his hands over his face. "No, Stiles, I don't yet. We're still going over what we have so far, which is not a lot," he said bitterly and sighed. "I only came home for a quick change of clothes and then I'm going back to the station. What were you even doing at Deaton's?"

Ignoring that question as well, Stiles nibbled at his lower lip before asking meekly, "Do you – do you think she got kidnapped by the serial killer?" It was a question he barely dared to ask aloud, his stomach cramping and twisting together at the thought alone, but he needed to know.

He needed to know whether in a few days' time he might see Cora's name added to the growing list of victims – a list which was becoming way too long.

"I don't know, son," Dad said quietly, his eyes dark and sombre. "I hope to god not. So far the Hales haven't been contacted yet, so whether it's the serial killer or someone trying to take revenge on the family remains to be seen. I'm hoping we'll get some breakthrough today."

"If I can – " Stiles started to say, but was abruptly cut off by the older man, who cut his hand through the air almost violently.

"No, you're not going to get into the middle of this," Dad stated firmly and stood up. "We don't know who's behind this and I won't have you bringing yourself in danger. I don't want you anywhere near this case or snuffling around in the files, do you hear me, Stiles? I'm serious about this. If I find out you've been sniffling around, grounding will be the least of your worries."

The look in his eyes said there would be no arguing or protesting against it and Stiles raised his hands hastily. "I promise!"

"I mean it, Stiles, if I find out that you started your own investigation," Dad started to work up to a rant, but Stiles cut him off before he could really get into it.

"Dad, I swear I won't!"

Dad still looked like he didn't quite believe him, which while rude was quite understandable as well, but he sighed and motioned for the younger man to leave the bedroom. "All right, I'm going to finish up here and then I'm back to the station. You got any plans for today?"

_Aside from obsessing over Cora?_ , Stiles thought, but that would probably only lead to yet another lecture about keeping his nose out of this, so instead he said, "I was thinking of going over to Lydia's. You know, spend some time with her before she leaves."

Dad nodded approvingly. "That's good. I'll see you tonight then."

"You're eating dinner here?"

"Yeah, can't promise I won't go back afterwards, but we'll have dinner together," Dad confirmed and then shooed him off. "Go on now, go catch some more sleep before you turn into a zombie."

He actually hadn't caught much sleep at all while waiting for his dad to return home. He'd dozed off for a bit, but every time he would fall into a deeper sleep, he'd startle awake again. So yeah, he was tired, but given everything that was happening he doubted he'd be able to rest well.

Still, a nap wouldn't hurt he guessed. At least it would make his brain sharper for the upcoming research he was planning.

* * *

"How much do you know about the murderer going around and offing people?" was the first thing he asked when Lydia opened the door.

She stared at him unimpressed. "Really, Stiles?"

"Look, I need your help, okay?" he said, a bit agitated, and squeezed past her inside. "I know this has something to do with a ritual, but I haven't been able to figure out which one it is yet or what the goal is and with Cora having been kidnapped, I don't think I - "

"Wait, Cora's been kidnapped?" she asked abruptly and slammed the door shut. "Cora as in Cora Hale?"

"Yep, that one. Talia called Deaton when I was there and I heard the whole conversation. My dad's looking for her, but they don't know yet what the kidnapper wants, so unless the kidnapper reaches out today, I don't think …" he trailed off and swallowed, not wanting to finish his sentence.

Not that he needed to; comprehension dawned upon her face and she pressed her lips together, crossing her arms underneath her breasts. "You think her abduction has something to do with that serial killer?" she asked knowingly; her eyes briefly flickering towards the notes clutched against his chest.

He shrugged. "I don't know," he said evasively. "But don't you think it's one hell of a coincidence that after so many murders, Cora gets abducted? I'm not saying a random abduction can't happen, but I don't know. It just feels too much of a coincidence."

"Does the police have any idea how long the killer kept his victims?" Lydia asked, going straight to business as he'd expected.

That was why he'd come to her. She was one of the smartest people he knew and would be able to make connections even he missed. If there was anyone who could help him figure out what the ritual was about, then it was her.

Following her up the stairs to her room, he answered, "Five to seven days on average. That's their assumption at least, because the family of some of the victims hadn't heard of them in a while, so it could be longer than that even."

"If the kidnapper is the killer, then we have around five days to find Cora," she mumbled, closing the door behind him. "That's not a broad window. I take it they haven't been able to narrow down the possible places she could have been taken to?"

He shook his head, sitting down on her bed and spreading out his notes. "As far as I know, no, but dad didn't want to tell me much."

"Not a surprise there," she clucked her tongue and sank down next to him, crossing her legs and picking up some of the pages. "How do you want to do this?"

"I was thinking that you could focus on finding which ritual is being put together, while I concentrate on figuring out why the victims keep being dumped in one specific field," he explained, handing over the rest of the notes detailing the victims' deaths and some general information he'd pulled down from the internet about rituals. It wasn't much yet, but he hadn't been able to concentrate last night.

Lydia settled herself more comfortably against some pillows and booted up her laptop, placing her notes next to her on a pillow. She pulled her hair back into a simple ponytail and started typing.

His own laptop was just in sleeping modus so after logging back in, he was instantly greeted with the five tabs he'd pulled up last night before having given up when his brain had refused to cooperate. Now, however, the thought that Cora might have been taken by the serial killer spurred him on to look at the pages more properly.

Was he completely certain that Cora had been taken by the killer? No, not without more information. Did he believe it was a random kidnapping or at least only targeted towards the Hales and not necessarily tied to the murders? That he couldn't wholeheartedly believe either. His gut feeling was telling him there was reason why Cora had been kidnapped; he just needed to find out what that reason was. If it was tied to the killer, they needed to be act very quickly before the murderer could add a seventh victim to his growing list.

If it did turn out to be a random abduction, well, that person could better hope they wouldn't be caught then, because going up against the Hales was a very stupid thing to do.

Now, what was so special about that damn tree stump?

* * *

It was a couple of hours later, after they'd taken a short break to eat lunch, that Stiles found his attention straying more and more to his phone. It had been silent the whole day so far with only one message from Scott asking him where he was and one from his dad to warn him he'd be home an hour later.

Surprisingly Theo hadn't bothered him either and while that was rather odd, considering the man hadn't left him alone since their less than fun conversation in Stiles' bedroom, he wasn't about to be sad about it either. The less he heard from Theo, the better in his opinion. He still needed to figure out a way to get rid of that guy for good, but for now Cora and the mysterious ritual were taking precedence over a creepy dude who was clearly messed up in the head.

Erica hadn't texted him once either, even though he'd expected at least one message to ask him where he'd been last night considering he still slept over at her place. She didn't send anything, though, and it took him a bit to realise that the reason behind that was probably the same one driving him to do this research: being close to Derek, she was probably out there helping look for his missing sister.

Thinking about Derek had his stomach flipping uncomfortably and he worried his lip between his teeth; his eyes flashing between his screen and his phone. He wanted to contact the Beta, let him know that –

Yeah, what? That he was there for him, but that he couldn't see him, because Theo would flip his shit? That would lead to some very uncomfortable questions probably; ones he couldn't answer because there was a chance Theo might find out and that was the last thing he wanted.

But not saying anything, especially now that his youngest sister had been kidnapped, was something he couldn't do either.

"Either you pick up your phone and text or call whoever you're thinking about or you don't, but make up your mind, Stiles," Lydia's irritated voice ripped him out of his thoughts and he started, whipping his head around to stare at her.

"I wasn't …"

The look she threw him told him quite clearly to cut the bullshit and he smiled embarrassed, grabbing his phone and scrambling off the bed, nearly tripping over his own shoes. "All right, I'm just going to …" He jerked his thumb to the corridor and she waved him off, her attention already back on her notes.

He pulled the door closed behind him when he stepped out into the corridor and after staring at his phone for an embarrassing long time, he typed ' _How are you holding up?_ ' and sent it before he could think twice.

The words stared back at him and he groaned, thumping his head against the wall as he realised how utterly fucking lame he sounded in that text. He should have just left his phone alone, because this was just stupid. Who asked someone whose sister had been kidnapped how they were holding up? Obviously not great!

The phone ringing in his hand had him freezing up for a second, his heart beating quicker as he wanted Derek's name appear on the screen. His hesitation whether he should pick up was quickly halted when Lydia cleared her throat meaningfully from inside her room.

"Pick up the phone before I shove it down your throat," she said calmly and yeah, okay, if that was how it was going to be …

"Hey," he greeted lamely, aware that it had been quite a while since he'd last seen or spoken to the older man.

"Hey," Derek returned exhausted.

Leaning against the wall, Stiles started fiddling with a loose thread of one of the loops on his jeans. "How are you feeling?" he asked and cringed. One stupid question after the other.

There was a short pause on the other end of the line before Derek released a long sigh. "Not that great," he admitted and Stiles imagined him ranking a hand through his hair. "I've been out searching since I got the call, but nothing."

"Did you hear anything from, you know?" Stiles fumbled, not wanting to say the word 'kidnapper' aloud, even though they both knew he could be talking about one thing only.

"No," Derek replied shortly; frustration like the edge of a knife underlining his voice. "They didn't try to contact us at all. We have no clue who's behind this, so it could be anyone."

"Did anyone see it happening?" That had to be the case because why else would Talia have called Deaton to say her daughter had been abducted instead of just missing?

"Laura did," Derek said curtly. "She and Cora were planning to head out to the mall and Cora had gone ahead to the car. Before she could get inside, another car stopped and somebody dragged her into it before speeding away. No license plate and Laura didn't get a good look at them, so we don't know anything at all."

"I'm sorry, Derek," Stiles said softly, knowing it was inadequate, but not knowing what else to say. What did you say to someone whose little sister had been taken away?

"Yeah," Derek said softly and silence fell between them for a while before he broke it again, "Thanks for calling me."

"It was a text," Stiles said dumbly and shook his head. "I'm sorry I can't do anything. Dad threatened to do something worse than grounding if he caught me investigating."

A humourless laugh escaped the Beta. "Stiles, I don't expect you to do anything; your dad's right. This isn't something you should get into the middle of; it's too risky. I'm just … It's good to hear your voice again."

"Yeah," Stiles said softly, closing his eyes. It was good to hear Derek's voice again too. He hadn't realised just how much he'd missed hearing him talk until he heard his low voice through the phone.

"I have to go now, search through another part of the Preserve we haven't done yet," Derek said and Stiles heard branches break underneath his shoes. "Maybe – maybe we can meet up again once all this is over and Cora's back?" he asked hesitatingly.

If they get Cora back. "Yeah, sure," Stiles smiled weakly. "I'd love to."

"I'll talk to you soon," Derek promised.

"Sure, I hope you'll find her soon."

"Yeah." A deep sigh. "Me too."

Beeping filled his ears when Derek hung up and he lowered his phone, staring down at the white carpet with unseeing eyes. He wasn't sure whether it'd been a good idea to reach out to Derek again. At least not until he'd found a way to fix his problem with Theo, but … It'd been good to hear his voice, even if the circumstances were beyond shitty.

A door opening had him looking up and he met Lydia's gaze. "You're ready to get back to the research?" she asked softly.

He threw one more look at his phone, of which the screen had gone dark, and nodded, stuffing it in his pocket. "Yeah, let's continue."

* * *

"I think I found it," Lydia broke the silence several hours later.

It was inching into evening and the time when he needed to leave in order to be on time for dinner and he'd started to think they would be researching for days. There was nothing online about whether a tree stump could have a significant meaning in a ritual and he wondered whether the place had merely been a coincidence after all.

"What did you find?" He shuffled closer to her, glad that she at least had made more progress than him.

She tapped on the screen where a diagram was shown of a perfect circle with an X right in the middle of it. Seven people had been drawn around the circle with lines connecting them to the X. Each person had a symbol drawn next to them and he could recognise four as ones depicting the four elements of nature.

"I've looked through various rituals and compared the preparation and 'ingredient list'," her grimace was full of disgust, "with the information you pulled from the police files and this ritual seems to be the one the killer is setting up."

"What does it do?" The explanation next to the diagram was naturally in Latin, because they couldn't make it easier than this and he read through it quickly, words like ' _power', 'harness_ ', and ' _moon_ ' popping out immediately.

"I spent some time translating it," she said and thank god for that, "and basically the ritual seems to be used in order to draw all the power of a great natural source towards you, effectively harnessing that power for your own use."

"Great natural source?" he repeated with a frown. "What does that mean?"

She shook her head, biting down on her lower lip. "I'm not really sure," she admitted chagrined. "The text is rather vague about that. It seems to assume that the reader of this ritual already knows what it is and merely needs this explanation to know how to set it up. As far as I can gather, this source seems to be like some kind of natural magical power source, like a rock or a tree; things that have been considered to contain magical powers since ancient times."

"Okay, I can guess why the four elements are used then," he mumbled, staring at the circle and the way the seven people were drawn around it with one person standing at the top right across the X. "But what position do the first two victims take up then? And let's say that psycho took Cora – what's her purpose in all of this? The first two victims died with no real connection to any nature element."

"Look at these symbols," she said and tapped on one which resembled some kind of animal with its fangs displayed in a display of fury. "One victim looked like she'd been mauled to death by an animal, right?"

"Yeah, the first one."

"And this one," she tapped on another person which simply had a sleeping, neutral face as symbol next to it," the second victim was stabbed."

"Yeah, with a knife. Nothing else was done to him. Where are you going with this?"

"They both represents our sides," she stated matter-of-factly. "One victim needs to die through an animal attack, because we're partly animal. The other victim dies by a human hand: our human side. Both sides keep each other in balance and both sides are needed in this ritual for that exact reason."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense," he said and grimaced. "But what about Cora?"

"Here the text gets murky again," she sighed and rolled her shoulders. "It speaks of sacrificing the blood of someone tied to the natural source."

"But why would Cora be … The Hales own this land," he suddenly realised, shooting up again. Heart pounding, he stared at Lydia, whose eyes widened a touch in comprehension. "That's it, right? The Hales practically own this land, this town, so whatever this natural power source bullshit is, it stands to reason that the Hales would be tied to it because they've been here for so long!"

"The Hales are old blood," she whispered, tracing her finger across the circle. "It can't get better than that if you want to complete a ritual like this one."

"Shit, so they took her to drain her of her blood." He jumped up and started pacing back and forth, needing to do something to work off this restless energy. "I don't know what this person is planning to do with all this supposed power they'll gain after completing the ritual, but it can't be anything good."

The whole harnessing natural power for your own by killing people didn't seem like something a good person would do. What exactly they hoped to do with all this supposed power was anyone's guess, but it was more than clear that they had to be stopped before it would come to that. He really didn't want to find out what would happen if they were too late.

"Does it mention any particular time restrictions, certain moments that the ritual needs to be completed at?" He might not know much about magic, but he did know that most rituals seemed to work with time indications, like only performing them during a full moon or only on a particular day in a particular month and so on. If this ritual had a specific time indication as well, they might be able to figure out through that how much time they had left to find Cora and stop the ritual.

"Let me take a look," she murmured and scrolled down the page, mouthing the words soundlessly. "Six of the seven murders don't have a specific time indication, but the last one – which will also complete the ritual – has to happen on the night of a supermoon, as that will act as a conduct to channel the natural power more easily."

"A supermoon? I think they mentioned it on the news; isn't there supposed to be one soon?" he asked rhetorically, sitting down on the bed again and pulling his laptop on his lap. "Yeah, here, the next supermoon is scheduled for … next Saturday."

_Fuck._

"Shit," Lydia echoed his thoughts troubled, leaning over his shoulder to stare at the news website with the article about the supermoon displayed prominently on top of it. "Next Saturday gives us only …. Shit."

It gave them only five days maximum to find Cora on time. Five days to find a missing girl and stop a dangerous ritual with no information whatsoever about the killer and where he could be hiding Cora.

Stiles didn't like their odds. At all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: Like I said, for some reason this chapter gave me a bit more trouble than the others. I hope it wasn't too bad overall!
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you all back in my next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Still had to finish the chapter today, but hey at least I finished this one on time!
> 
> Thank you for the comments and the kudos!
> 
> Warnings: Stiles being snoopy and brief non-consensual kissing
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 14_

There was nothing to it: he'd have to inform his dad what he and Lydia had discovered. By doing that, he'd be admitting that he'd gone against his dad's rules and had got involved after all, but well, if admitting that meant raising the chances of bringing Cora home safe, he'd gladly accept whatever punishment his dad would come up with.

"Thanks, Lydia. You really helped me out with this!" he said gratefully, gathering their notes so that he could show them to his dad.

"I'm glad I could help," she said quietly, her forehead wrinkled with worry. She followed him downstairs and held the front door open. "Just get her back safely. Preferably before the ritual can be completed."

"That's the plan at least," he muttered, hurrying to his Jeep. He wasn't sure how much help their newly discovered information would be – especially since he still hadn't been able to find out what the significance of that tree stump could be – but every little bit of information would help, wouldn't it?

Maybe knowing what kind of ritual it was would help them narrow down the places where the murderer could be hiding out. It was worth a shot at least.

He still had around an hour before his dad would go home, so he went straight to the station. Unless his dad was out on a call, he should still be in his office. He didn't want to wait any longer than absolutely necessary, even if it would only be an hour at best.

Parrish looked up surprised when Stiles came practically flying into the station. "Oh hey, Stiles. You're looking for your dad?"

"Yeah, is he in his office?" Stiles asked, already making a beeline for it. The door of dad's office was ajar, which usually meant he was inside.

"Yep, you can just go in."

"Thanks, man."

"Stiles, is it already past seven?" Dad questioned bemused when he entered the room. When he looked down at his watch he frowned.

"Nope, not past seven yet. Don't worry, dad, I'm not here to scold you about tardiness," Stiles muttered, dumping all his notes on the desk in front of his dad. When he reached out to grab them, Stiles slammed his hand down on them and gave him a tight smile. "I need to talk to you about something and I know you're going to be mad and I kind of went against what you said, but it's for a good cause, I promise!"

Dad leant back in his chair, eyeing him warily. "Somehow I'm not sure whether you going against something I said can be for a good cause," he said slowly. "What did I say and what did you do?"

"You might have said that I wasn't allowed to stick my nose in the serial killer case," Stiles replied, keeping his gaze fixated on the ceiling so that he wouldn't have to see the dawning expression of disappointment on the older man's face. "And I might have still kept looking through the files anyway, even though I didn't actually go to the crime scene itself. So you know, I didn't completely disobey; I kept it to the written part of the investigation only."

"Stiles," Dad sighed.

He winced and looked down again, shuffling with the papers. "Look, I'll accept any punishment you'll give me, okay, no whining whatsoever – or well, like the very bare minimum at least – but you need to take a look at this, okay?"

"What is this?" Dad questioned, pressing his lips together. He was clearly mad that Stiles had gone against his direct order, but he was at least willing to listen, which was more than Stiles had hoped for honestly.

"I know you brought Deaton into this - "

"Wait, just how far did you go into those files?"

"So I know you already suspect the killer is setting up a ritual," Stiles continued, electing to not answer that particular question, "but I don't think you know what kind of ritual it is exactly, right? I couldn't find anything about that in the files."

"No, we don't," Dad confirmed sourly and rose up, leaning forwards to study the papers as Stiles spread them out. "Deaton said there were several rituals possible."

"Perhaps at the time when he was brought in, but I think we narrowed it down to the right one."

"When you're talking about 'we', who else are you talking about?"

Stiles waved his hand haphazardly through the air, nearly slapping dad's shoulder. "Not the point now, dad," he chided him and cleared his throat when dad threw him a warning look. "So, anyway, I found out that each murder victim can be linked to a specific element that is used in the ritual."

"With element you mean what exactly?" Dad inquired, studying the papers more intently now, picking up the one displaying the diagram.

"Well, you've got the four nature elements, which are the most obvious ones. The third victim was buried alive, and that's the element of earth," Stiles tapped at the symbol, "the fourth victim was set on fire, so obviously that's the fire element. The fifth victim - "

"Drowned and is connected to water," Dad realised, his eyes lightening up in comprehension. "The sixth victim was strangled – does that relate to air then?"

Stiles nodded and pointed at him. "Yes, exactly! The four elements of nature right there."

"All right, but the first two victims then. You mentioned every victim can be linked to an element – what kind of element is tied to being ripped apart by an animal and being stabbed to death?" Dad raised an eyebrow, staring dubiously at the symbols. "That doesn't have anything to do with nature, right? Unless nature somehow gained two elements overnight."

"Guess you could call it our nature," Stiles said, pursing his lips and remembering Lydia's explanation. "The animal attack refers to the part in us that's animal, that can shift. The attack with the knife – that's our human part. Animal and human are both needed to keep the balance. That balance is required for this ritual."

"Huh," Dad muttered and his narrowed gaze slid from one symbol to the next one as he mouthed something to himself. "That's actually the most reasonable explanation as to why they died that way that I've heard so far."

"It's the right reason as well," Stiles pointed out. "There's no other ritual that requires all those elements to be present."

"And what exactly does this ritual do? I take it, it's not something to conjure world peace," Dad said dryly, but a note of apprehension lurked in his voice.

The Omega grimaced and ran a hand through his hair. "No, it's not," he sighed. "The whole explanation was written in Latin, so it wasn't easy to decipher. I have to warn you that we're not completely sure about the meaning either, because again the explanation wasn't really clear about it. Seemed to assume that the user of the ritual would just know what it would do," he huffed annoyed.

"All right, just tell me what you think it is meant for."

"The ritual is apparently used to harness all the power of a 'great natural source'," Stiles finger quoted, "whatever the hell that means. We think it means that it will grant the ritual user all the power of a magical object and will let him yield that power how he sees fit. What that power is supposed to be used for, I don't have a clue, but it can't be anything good. We think the magical source in this case has to be literal natural, meaning some kind of rock or tree or hell, a hill or so with a long history of magic tied to it. I don't know where we could find a place like that here in Beacon Hills, though, because it's not like this town is that special and – dad?" he cut himself off when he caught a strange look passing the Alpha's face.

Dad stared at him blankly before shaking his head slightly. "No, nothing. Just thinking about something. Do you think Cora's abduction is tied to this?"

Stiles didn't buy the obvious diversion move, but he let it go for now, knowing he couldn't push his luck too much after already having disobeyed his dad with this. "We're pretty sure it is," he admitted and grimaced, wrapping his arms around his stomach. "The Hales have lived here since the beginning, right?"

"Yes, they were the first family to settle here after buying the land," Dad nodded, picking up another paper on which the victims and their causes of death had been listed. He wrinkled his nose and placed it back down, grabbing another sheet which outlined what they knew about the ritual. "I guess that counts as being here since the start of Beacon Hills. What has that got to do with Cora being kidnapped?"

"Well, again we're not completely sure because the Latin text wasn't easy to translate," he cautioned and went on when dad waved his hand, "but the ritual requires a blood sacrifice of someone tied to the natural source."

"Shit," Dad cursed, obviously having connected the dots instantly.

"Yeah," Stiles swallowed, staring at the symbol on the paper which stood for Cora's part in the ritual. "Whatever this natural source is, it stands to reason that the Hales would be tied to it, purely because they lived here first. I don't know whether there was a specific reason why Cora was kidnapped or whether it was just a case of being a Hale at the wrong time at the wrong place, but dad, they're going to steal her blood, probably drain her entirely. _She's going to die if we don't find her on time_."

A sudden wave of coldness washed over him, his previous excitement at telling his dad what he'd found evaporating instantly as reality smacked him harshly in his face again. This wasn't just a case he'd solved for fun, one where he didn't know the people involved personally. _Cora_ was involved in this, a girl he'd considered his friend, and that had ice settling in his veins.

Even if he was right about the ritual – and really, there was no other option, was there? Lydia was sure it was this one; if she was certain, then there really was no other ritual to consider – that still didn't help the case much. There were no clues hidden in the ritual about the place where the killer could be hiding, so it was still like searching a needle in a haystack.

He could be everywhere; there was no saying for certain that he was hiding in a particular part of town. Unless they somehow happened to walk right into the setting of the ritual, they were still basically stumbling around in the dark, completely blind.

A warm hand clasping his shoulder started him out of his dark thoughts and he gazed up with wide eyes at his dad, who offered him a grim, but reassuring smile.

"Then we just have to make sure we find her before the killer can try anything," he stated and it was in the authoritative tone of voice that never failed to calm Stiles down. Dad squeezed his shoulder and nodded at the papers strewn across his desk. "I don't know much about rituals, but most of them tend to work with a time frame, right? What kind of time frame are we looking at here?"

Taking a deep breath, Stiles shook his head, forcing himself to focus on the papers and not on the dark fear brewing in the pit of his stomach. "The six murders didn't have to be committed in a specific time frame, but the last part of the ritual – the one involving Cora – does have a time frame."

He walked over to the calendar hanging on the wall and tapped on the little square that highlighted the number seventeen. "This Saturday there's a supermoon and _that's_ the moment the ritual needs to be completed. According to the text, the supermoon will act as some kind of conduct to make the transfer of the power easier."

Which made a lot of sense actually now that he thought about it and normally that would fascinate him, but all he could think of when looking at the calendar in front of him, was just how little time there was left to save Cora.

"That gives us around five days at most to find her on time," Dad sighed, coming to a stop next to him.

Five days were long when you were following classes. Five days were super long when you were stuck at the hospital with nothing to do, bored out of your mind.

_Five days were short when it came to rescuing someone._

"That's not a lot of time," Stiles remarked quietly.

"It's not," Dad agreed sombrely before squaring his shoulders and returning to his desk. "But that doesn't mean we can't try our hardest. I'm going to discuss this with the rest of the team and I'm going to call in Deaton tomorrow again, see if he can help narrow down the places now that we know which ritual is being planned."

"Should I get some food for us?" Stiles asked knowingly, recognising that look on dad's face.

It was a look that said he'd be here for a few more hours at least, working through the new information and linking it with what they already knew.

"Yeah, that's easier," Dad muttered before pointing at him. "And then you're going straight home. You've helped out a lot with this – despite the fact that I told you not to get involved in this – but it ends here, understood? I mean it, Stiles. I don't want you sneaking around, do you hear me?"

Hastily Stiles raised his hands in the air. "I won't sneak around, I swear! I just couldn't do nothing when one of my friends is in danger, you know? I had to do something."

Dad's face softened. "I know, and you've been a really great help with this, but you've done enough now. Leave the rest to us, okay?"

"Okay," Stiles sighed, knowing there wasn't anything he could do either way. Well, except for prowling around the crime scene in the hopes that the killer would return, but one, that would be a massively bad idea and two, encountering that creep there would mean Cora would be dead and no, just no. That wasn't a scenario he wanted to envision.

All he could do was hope that his information would be of some use to the corpse and that they would be able to locate the killer before it would be too late to save Cora.

* * *

Did this count as breaking and entering?

_No_ , he reassured himself as he slowly slipped the key from the lock and pushed the door open. _It's hardly breaking and entering when you've got a key._

Sure, he'd copied the key from a completely oblivious Scott, but that was just a minor technicality. The point was, you couldn't officially break in somewhere when you had a key to the place.

That was what he told himself as he walked further into Deaton's darkened practice. He and Scott had a vet emergency in the next town and wouldn't be back for at least a couple of hours. That should give him ample time to look through Deaton's books and check whether he could find information about the mysterious tree stump in one of them.

Honestly he was still mad at himself that he hadn't thought about this earlier. He had spent nearly the entire day yesterday trying to find information about the stump in the field, but he'd come up empty each time. He'd been certain the dead tree had to have some kind of significance, though, especially when he recalled dad's face when he'd been talking about the natural source of the ritual.

Dad had looked way too knowing for someone claiming he'd been thinking about something else instead, but it wasn't like Stiles could expect any explanation now that he'd been officially shut out from the investigation – again.

He could actually hit himself for not making the link earlier than last night. The ritual spoke about a great natural source and something in him insisted that the dead tree had a particular significance and that was why the killer dumped his victims there every time. What kind of significance could the stump have if not being the actual natural source in question?

Granted it didn't really look like an amazing natural source to him, considering it'd been dead for years and something magical had to be alive in order to function, wouldn't it? But that was why he was here now, in Deaton's practice: to find answers to his questions.

If the tree was indeed the natural source the ritual spoke about, what was so great about it then? Why did it look dead when it was supposed to be magical? And what would happen to it when the ritual was completed?

All answers he hoped to find in the druid's books. Because where else was he supposed to find information about something magical and mysterious? Certainly not the local library.

With a soft snort, he walked into Deaton's office, where he knew the man kept all his non vet related books. He'd actually been itching for a while now to explore the books inside this room, but Deaton had so far refused to let him. One of the reason Stiles found him so very frustrating to deal with.

"All right." He looked around and clapped his hands together. "If I was Deaton and I had information about a dead tree in the middle of the Preserve, where would I store it?"

There were four bookcases lined in a row against the wall and every shelf was packed to the brim with all kinds of books; some looking so old, they'd probably fall apart if someone so much as touched them with a feather, while others looked brand-new, as if they'd been transported straight from the printing press to the shelves. Some had their spines bent while others had their title faded so thoroughly it was difficult to read what it had originally said.

There seemed to be no real reason in the way they'd been stacked onto the shelves either. Not like Stiles' books, which had been organised by author and then by title. No, here he could find one book about runes right next to one about creating wards. Books about talismans were stored right next to ones containing recipes of herb concoctions.

"I'm trying to find vital information here, Deaton, couldn't you organise your shit better?" he hissed annoyed, squatting down to peer at the books on the lower shelves. How the hell did the druid even find anything in here? There appeared to be no system whatsoever and he had to restrain himself from pulling every book from the shelf and reorganising them.

The goal was to read the books he needed and leave without anyone noticing he'd been here. He would hardly remain undetected if he completely reorganised every bookcase. Still, was it so freaking hard to just have a decent system in place?!

Drawing closer to the third bookcase, his attention was caught by a dark red book on the second to last shelf. Kneeling down on the floor, he pulled it from between the two thick books bracketing it and studied it. It bore no title and the cover felt soft, as if it was made of some sort of cloth. Velvet maybe? Curiosity piqued, he let it fall open on a random page and quickly discovered he was staring at one of Deaton's journals.

The spidery handwriting – one he'd seen before on documents signed off by the vet – filled the thick pages; the date neatly penned into the left corner when he'd started a new entry. Whoops, he hadn't expected to find the older man's journals and went to close it when a line at the top of a page snagged his interest.

' _The Nemeton continues to deteriorate since her death.'_

Intrigued, Stiles sat down, resting the journal in his lap. Nemeton? What the hell was that? Why would it deteriorate because someone had died? Who had died and why would their death affect whatever the hell a Nemeton was?

The large spat of shame of reading someone's journal left him as he settled against the desk to read on, wanting to find out more.

' _Whilst not completely gone, it appears to have fallen into a slumber. The power within it has withdrawn itself and no matter what I offer, it is reluctant to appear. Perhaps it is in mourning?_

_I spoke to Talia about it this morning and we both reached the decision to not do anything for the time being. Whilst the Nemeton is no longer in an active state, neither does it appear to have completely withdrawn the protection it offers to the town. The Elemental Fox has been dead for four months, so whilst perhaps it is too early to say for certain that the slumber won't affect the protective wards, Talia and I agreed that the Hales' ties to the land will be enough to make up for the absence of the active Nemeton._

_The Hales live in the Preserve so if any changes in the Nemeton occur, they'll be alerted immediately. For now we have decided to let it rest. Perhaps in time, the Nemeton will restore itself.'_

Frowning, Stiles flipped through the previous pages, but Deaton never mentioned the actual name of this ' _Elemental Fox_ '. What even was an Elemental Fox? Was it something special like a druid? What kind of powers did it have over this Nemeton that its death caused it to worsen?

The journal was dated several years ago and after that one entry, Deaton only sparsely mentioned the Nemeton again. Always the same update: no change whatsoever detected in the slumbering Nemeton.

What was the Nemeton? Was it something in the Preserve, given the remark that the Hales lived there? Shit, even in his own journals Deaton was enigmatic as fuck. Would it kill the guy to just be straightforward for once in his life?

Frustrated he went to close the journal again when a glimpse of a drawing suddenly flashed past. Quickly he leaved through the pages again, wanting to know what Deaton had drawn in his journal.

It was a drawing of a tree. A decaying tree to be exact, looking like something had taken a huge bite from the top of it. Above the picture, Deaton had written, ' _Nemeton, two months after the Elemental Fox's death_ '. The drawing was quite detailed, even the background accompanying it, and there was just something so familiar about it … Like he'd seen it before, like he'd actually been there …

Realisation hit him like a sledgehammer and he took a quick picture of the drawing before stuffing it back on the shelf and hightailing it out of there, barely remembering to lock the door behind him again.

He needed to check something. He thought that maybe … He had to know for sure. Because if he was right, he might just have found their mysterious natural source.

* * *

Panting, he skidded to a stop and quickly retrieved his phone from his pocket. His lungs were burning, his legs felt like rubber and the warm sun didn't do much in helping him cool down, but he paid no attention to those things.

All his focus was aimed on the picture and the tree in front of him. The pathetic stump which had made him ponder occasionally how it hadn't rotten away completely yet after all those years.

The stump which had once been a flourishing tree around which he and his mother had chased each other.

The tree stump which now stared back at him from both the picture on his phone and right in front of him.

_The tree stump was the Nemeton._

Whatever the Nemeton really was – some kind of magical guardian, a place that stored magic, whichever it was – he was certain that he was looking at it now. The stump looked more decayed than the one on the picture, but there was no mistaking the intricate background matching the one in real life or the way the roots peeked through the forest floor in that weird, twisted manner.

The Nemeton was the tree stump in front of him and the killer wanted to draw whatever power was stored inside of it. There was no doubt about that.

"Holy shit," he breathed out amazed and abruptly sat down, his knees knocking against the ground; some sticks poking his skin through his jeans.

"So you're the great natural source the ritual is talking about!"

Of course the tree stump didn't answer him, but he just knew. Something inside of him told him he was right when he stared at the stump, at the gnarly roots poking slightly through the earthy blanket.

He had found the power source of the ritual. Now what could he do about it?

His phone ringing had him jumping nearly three feet in the air and he'd accepted the call without checking the screen, which turned out to not be such a great idea when Theo's voice filled his ear.

"Where are you? I thought we'd agreed to meet up at the diner before we would go bowling," he said; his voice nearly drowned out by the voices of the diners in the background.

Shit, was it that late already? Scrambling upwards, sending some dirt flying, Stiles hastily turned around and started making his way back to his car.

"Yeah sorry, went for a walk in the Preserve and lost track of time," he answered clipped, his heart pounding in his chest for a whole other reason now.

Fuck, he'd completely forgotten that he was supposed to meet up with Theo today. He still hadn't found a way to get out of this mess because he'd been too distracted with the case and it wasn't like Theo had given him much choice to refuse.

The reminder had him clenching his jaw and for a brief moment he contemplated just running away, shifting and just keep on running through the woods, leaving all of this shit behind. Then he remembered his dad, Scott, Lydia, the Hales and he knew he couldn't do that. Not as long as he didn't have an actual plan to deal with Theo.

"No problem, I'll come pick you up."

Before Stiles could protest, saying he had his car here, Theo had hung up and he cursed loudly, clenching his hand around his phone. Fuck him. As soon as Cora was back, he'd find a way to deal with that son of a bitch, even if that was the last thing he'd do.

* * *

Stiles just left the cover of the last trees when Theo's car slowed down to a stop on the road, a couple of feet away from him. Reluctantly he turned away from his Jeep and walked over to the other car, the door of the passenger's side already being pushed open for him from the inside.

"I have my car here, you know," he said stiffly and stepped inside, slamming the door harder than was required. He was pissed off, okay, because now he had to deal with Theo for at least a couple of hours when all he wanted to do was race to the precinct and confront his dad with what he'd just discovered.

He stiffened when a hand cupped his jaw and turned his head forcefully around, so he ended up looking at the bastard's face.

Theo smiled, his eyes glinting, and said teasingly, "I know, but mine is less likely to break down suddenly." He winked and then kissed Stiles full on his mouth, his fingers tightening warningly at the same time.

Stiles couldn't pull back even if he wanted to. He sat there frozen, letting Theo kiss him, but the punishing grip on his face was unnecessary. Even without it, he doubted he would have been able to move.

Because he could smell it. It was vague, barely noticeable as if he'd taken a thorough shower before meeting up with him, but it was unmistakably there, lingering on the Alpha's skin. A scent he was quite familiar with, even if he had more interaction with other members of the family. A scent which had his blood turning into ice, his stomach churning, his anger turning into horror and his heart hammering madly.

_Cora's scent._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: Ooooh, whatever will happen now? :P That's for you to guess and for me to know XD Also, I'll be taking some liberties with the whole Nemeton part, so you know *waves hands*
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: My life's pretty hectic now, so I still had to finish the chapter today. For future reference: it can happen that a chapter ends up being posted later, but that's because I've been too busy that week then to finish the chapter on time. Just know that I'm working on this story - and other projects - as much as I can; sometimes I just succeed better in making progress than other times.
> 
> Thank you so much for the comments and the kudos! I'm so happy to see that this story has passed 600 kudos already! :D
> 
> Warnings: Hm, nothing in particular, I think.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 15_

Somehow Stiles managed not to give anything away during the entire time he was with Theo. He wished he'd just imagined Cora's scent clinging to that son of a bitch, but no, he would recognise that scent everywhere.

Theo had Cora.

Either him abducting her was for a personal reason, like a vendetta against the Hales – but what kind of vendetta could he have when the only interaction between him and a Hale had happened with Derek and he'd emerged as the 'winner' in that one? _Or_ he was the one conducting the ritual, the one who'd killed those six people and was planning on killing Cora next.

Stiles didn't know which option scared him the most. He couldn't just leave it like that, however. If Theo had Cora, no matter the reason, he needed to save her. The only problem was: how? He should go to his dad with the information, he knew, even if the information was nothing more than the barest hint of a scent, but what after that? They could ask for a warrant to search Theo's house, but what if she wasn't there? What if he'd hidden her somewhere else?

Somehow he very much doubted Theo would just spill the beans if he was interrogated by the police. They couldn't hold him indefinitely, especially when he refused to talk. They would need solid evidence for that, but they would have to find that first. Once Theo was free again, Stiles feared what he would do next. He'd been more than clear what would happen if Stiles went against him again. The memory of tires screaming and steel being crushed was still too fresh and Stiles opened his eyes with a shudder, staring at his laptop screen.

After Theo had dropped him off at his home, he'd immediately called Erica to give him a ride to her place. She'd been understandably confused, considering he'd left her place with his car and had growled when he'd explained what had happened. She'd offered to drive him to his car in the morning, so that he could pick it up.

He'd worry about something happening to his precious Jeep, but well, even he wasn't blinded enough by adoration to know that his car was considered junk in the eyes of other people. His Jeep would be safe at the edge of the forest and while she might act up in the morning when he started her, he knew he didn't have to worry about anyone vandalising her.

So here he was now in the room which he'd made his own over the course of a couple of weeks, trying to figure out what he could do to save Cora. He couldn't risk his dad's life before he had any actual solid evidence as to where Theo had hidden her. Without that, Theo wouldn't be locked up for long and he wasn't ready yet to find out what would happen when Theo truly got pissed off.

The only thing he could do at this point, he figured, was check Theo's house first. Wherever he'd hidden her, it was a place he'd visited before coming to pick him up, so it stood to reason that his house could be the place where Cora was kept. He knew the address and could drive to it anytime he wanted, but how would he explain his presence? He could ask Theo whether they could hang out at his place, he supposed, but that wouldn't really give him any leeway to inspect the rooms. Theo would start asking questions if Stiles insisted on looking through each room.

The only way to search his house was without the Alpha being present, but that was also a huge risk to take. He didn't know that bastard's schedule, couldn't even guess what he was up to when he didn't insist on seeing Stiles – well, aside from apparently murdering people and setting up a ritual, of course. But Stiles didn't think that the ritual filled up all his time, so that still gave him quite some time that would either have him out of the house or stay at home.

He couldn't risk going into Theo's home, only for the man to show up unexpected. He might be excelling in the art of bullshitting, but he doubted he'd be able to explain his presence without Theo getting suspicious.

Fuck, what could he do? In order for the police to detain him, they needed solid evidence – Cora herself alive preferably – and to get that solid evidence, the house needed to be checked first, just in case she was there. No real evidence and Theo would walk free.

If he could just be sure that he could walk around the house freely for at least an hour if not more, without worrying that Theo would come home, that'd be great. The problem was: how to assure himself of that safe timeframe? Something would need to keep Theo occupied for at least a while, but what could possibly –

Wait. There was a way to ensure that Theo would be detained for a while, but … Did he really want to drag her into this? Gnawing at his lower lip, he glanced at his phone, which was resting right next to him on the bed. He wanted to keep his friends out of this whole mess with Theo, because they definitely didn't serve being tangled up in this shit. She was his only chance, however, at actually having a shot to search through Theo's house without the Alpha interrupting him.

"Shit, don't have much choice," he hissed and snatched his phone from the mattress, scrolling through his contacts to find her name.

She picked up at the second ring. "This better be good, Stiles, because I was just about to get into a nice, relaxing bath," Lydia warned him primly.

"Does helping me find Cora sound good enough?"

That got her attention. "You know where she is?" she asked urgently; the hint of a growl leaving her voice.

"I've got a strong suspicion, yes," he admitted, running a hand through his hair. "But I need to confirm that first before I can tell my dad and I need your help with that."

"My legal or illegal help?" she inquired, not sounding particularly bothered by the latter option, which should probably be a bit concerning, but he couldn't bring himself to care about that now.

"You'd be doing the legal part of the plan," he said and cleared his throat. "Although, of course, it's not like my part will be that highly illegal, you know. Just a bit on the illegal side. Like just a smidgen."

"Just don't get caught."

"That's actually why I need your help," he said, chuckling weakly.

She paused. "Tell me your plan. The whole plan," she added warningly.

"I will, but I need you to just be quiet and listen, all right?" he said, taking a deep breath.

"I'm not going to like whatever you're going to tell me, huh?" she said quietly.

"No, you probably won't. Which is why I need you to not to do anything stupid," he warned her. Out of the two of them, he was the more impulsive one, yes, but he was worried how she'd react once he told her of his suspicions. As much as he would like to see her raise hell – and by god, that would be a glorious sight to behold, he was sure – he didn't want her to be in danger.

If he could have left her out of this, he would have, but he didn't have much choice.

"When have I ever done anything stupid?" she shot back and he could imagine her arching her eyebrow in that condescending way of hers that never failed to make the recipient of it feel like a worthless bug.

"Never, but what I'm going to tell you is pretty bad," he said and closed his laptop, shoving it to the end of the bed for now.

"I promise not to do anything stupid," she said impatiently. "Now tell me: where do you think Cora is, what do you need me to do, and how bad is it overall."

"I think Theo has her."

His confession was met with silence. If he couldn't hear her soft breathing on the other end of the phone, he would have thought she'd disappeared. She said nothing for a moment and uncomfortably he shifted around until he ended up with his back braced against the wall and the sheets twisted around his ankles.

"Why do you think that?" Her voice was flat, almost monotone even.

"He took me out for bowling tonight and when he – got close enough," he couldn't bring himself to say ' _kiss_ ', because the memory of it alone was enough to leave an awful taste behind and made him want to brush his teeth all over again, "I could smell Cora on him. Her scent wasn't that strong, more like a faint whiff even, but it's something - "

"We need to look into, I agree," she said clipped. "You said you needed my help; where do you think he's keeping Cora?"

"My best guess at this moment is his house," he answered, sucking his lower lip between his teeth for a few seconds. "I want to go in there and search for her or at least try to see if I can find anything that would lead us to her whereabouts."

"And you need me to distract that son of a bitch," she concluded briskly.

"Yeah, I hate to ask this of you, but I don't know his schedule and I'd rather not be caught while searching through his home," he said sourly.

"You getting caught would definitely not be a good outcome," she said primly. "How much time do you need?"

"At least one hour, two if you can manage it," he said slowly, rapping his fingers against his knee. He hadn't exactly thought about how much time he would need, but a window of two hours max should be enough, shouldn't it? "You think you can give me that?"

"Of course I can, leave that up to me," she said decisively. "Have you told your dad about this?"

"No," he admitted begrudgingly. "He'd want to arrest Theo as soon as possible and while I would be absolutely jumping in joy if that happened, they can't hold him for long if they don't have any solid proof that he has Cora."

"You think he's the one conducting those rituals? That that's why he needs Cora?" she questioned quietly.

He swallowed and licked his lips. "I think that if he has Cora, there's a strong possibility he's the killer the police has been searching for months now, yeah."

"If he's the murderer, then going into his house could be very dangerous, Stiles."

"I know, but do you have any other idea how to get proof of his involvement with Cora's abduction?" he snapped, lashing out harsher than he intended to. "Because if so, I'm all ears! If we want to see him behind bars, we need some serious proof and just a whiff of scent won't be enough. Especially not if she isn't even in his house! Then we're back to square one and he'll do – " he cut himself off before he could reveal more than he had planned on.

He wasn't ready yet to tell her that Theo had been the one to mess with his suppressants and had even assaulted him during his forced heat. Didn't want to confess that Theo would be forcing him to continue their ' _relationship_ ' unless he wanted something bad to happen to his family and friends if Stiles couldn't find something to strike against him safely.

If he told her all that, she'd fly into a fury and would probably try to kill Theo. She'd bring herself into danger because of him and he couldn't allow that to happen. All he needed to do was find Cora or at least a clue as to where she could be hidden and that would end everything.

Theo would be gone, he'd be free, Cora would be safe and he could finally live his life like he wanted to: studying at university, start a relationship with Derek and just be happy in general.

He could forget all the shit that had happened the past couple of months or at least ignore it hard enough that he wouldn't think about it anymore. Ignoring something until it eventually went away – that was his personal motto.

"I can guarantee you one hour. I'm going to try to give you two, but I can't promise that," she said brusquely. "And I need you to keep your phone with you at all times. When I call you, you need to get the hell out of that house, no matter what you found, you understand me? Immediately, Stiles. I mean it. I don't want to tell your dad why you were at the house of a murderer and didn't leave despite me telling you so!"

"I swear I'll leave the second you call me," he promised.

"No matter what you find?"

"No matter what I find. You call, I'm out of there, I promise," he said solemnly. "You've got an hour in mind that you're calling him away? I'll go to his house by that hour then, so that I won't waste too much time."

"Be there by ten; I'll make sure he leaves then. And Stiles, don't do anything stupid." With that clipped remark she ended the call.

He lowered his phone with a wince, getting the feeling that he would get an earful from her at a later date. She had agreed to help him without too much fuss, but he didn't think she would just let it go like this. That wouldn't be her, especially not when it concerned something as serious as this.

That was something to be concerned about in the future, though. For now he would just worry about getting into Theo's house without the man knowing about it.

Most of all, though, he worried about what exactly he was going to find there.

* * *

Theo lived rather secluded at the edge of the town with his small garden bordering against the woods. Stiles considered that to be some kind of lucky break, because it allowed him to remain hidden behind the trees while he waited for Lydia to get Theo out of his house. As he waited there, keeping an eye on the driveway next to the house, he started gnawing at a hangnail on his thumb.

For the umpteenth time this morning he wondered whether he shouldn't call his dad after all, tell him his suspicions and leave it up to him. Searching through the house of a suspected abductor slash killer was definitely more the work of the police than of a future university student. Dad would believe him, he was sure. He'd believed his explanation about the ritual and how Cora might tie into that, so he would believe him about Theo too.

What if they didn't find anything in the house, though? Theo wasn't stupid; he'd know who'd sent the police after him. Stiles still had yet to figure out how Theo had managed to land his dad in an accident – an accomplice most likely, but that accomplice still hadn't been found – so he most definitely didn't want to find out what Theo was capable of doing if the police tried to detain him without actually having real proof.

So in the end it would be up to him to gather the necessary evidence to get that sleezy bastard thrown behind bars.

_Fuck, let there be something in this house …_

He'd tried sniffing the air when he had just arrived, to see whether he could pick up Cora's scent here, but all he could smell were the regular scents of the woods, the animals wandering through the trees like ghosts and the chemical scent of the asphalt after it had rained last night. The lack of scent didn't mean anything of course. He could have brought her into the house from the street side and scents never lasted that long anyway. If she'd been inside this entire time, naturally her scent would have faded away already.

That meant he would definitely have to get inside the house, though, if he wanted to find even the slightest clue as to where she could be right now.

At exactly ten o'clock – he checked his phone – Theo appeared in the driveway, heading to his car. Even with the distance between them, Stiles saw he looked bemused as he slid behind the wheel. Whatever Lydia had told him, it had been convincing enough to get him out of the house.

_Yes, I knew I could count on you!,_ he thought, a sliver of excitement slithering through his body as he waited impatiently for Theo to leave.

When the sound of the car started fading away, he shot out of the woods and hurried to the back door. At most he would have one hour to search the house from top to bottom so he would have to make it count.

Praying that Theo hadn't installed any alarms, he got an old hairpin out of his pocket and started to work quickly on the lock after trying the doorknob. Obviously Theo would lock his doors, especially if he had something to hide, but Stiles wasn't a sheriff's son for nothing and it only took him thirty seconds to unlock the door and slip inside.

He ended up in a small kitchen and a quick look around told him he wouldn't find much here. There were some notes pinned on a bulletin board, but those turned out to be nothing but phone numbers of some local take out places and a grocery list.

Dismissing the kitchen he walked into the short hallway, opening the first door he encountered. That turned out to lead to a simple broom closet with regular cleaning supplies. It didn't really look like a place where one could hide somebody, so he closed that door and went on to the next one.

That door opened into a living room with some bookcases, a large television, two armchairs and a small couch. The books were just some sci-fi novels, with a couple of historic dramas thrown into the collection; nothing indiscriminating there. A look underneath the dark blue rug revealed no hidden ledges. He went through the small stack of magazines, but didn't expect anything from that; he doubted Theo would put information about rituals or his victims between some magazines about games and nature inspired ones.

The living room being a bust as well, he left it and closed the door again, making sure everything was in place like before. There was another door a couple of feet in front of the staircase but it had a complicated lock and when he tried the door knob, it didn't budge. He stood there for a few seconds, wavering and biting his lip. The presence of the extra lock seemed to indicate that there was something important there – maybe even Cora?

Should he chance wasting time on trying to open the door instead of checking the other floors? A part of him believed that this door hid something that could lead to Theo being busted, but … What if he was wrong? What if he wasted time trying to open the damn lock when upstairs the actual proof was hidden?

"Shit," he hissed quietly, glaring at the door. He felt torn, a part of him wanting to work on the lock here while another part told him it would be smarter to check upstairs first.

Checking the time he had around forty minutes left of the first hour. Depending on the amount of rooms upstairs that would either be enough to go back to this door or it wouldn't be. Was he going to risk …

Fuck it. Swiftly he turned around and carefully ascended the stairs, the wood releasing the occasional soft creak underneath his weight. He would do a quick but thorough check upstairs and then he'd hurry back to that door and see if he could pick the lock. That way he'd cover all his bases.

As he set foot on the landing, he couldn't supress a wave of unease which washed over him all of a sudden. There was just something about how silent the house was that set his teeth on edge and made him have the ridiculous urge to start shouting and talking loudly to himself just to fill up the space with some noise. There was the soft humming that all electric stuff gave off, of course, but that was about it. The heavy silence seemed to press down on him as he went from the bathroom to a plain bedroom to a study.

Theo's laptop was on the desk here, but of course it was password protected and he didn't have the time to start guessing it. For a few seconds he debated about calling Danny, but one, he was already involving Lydia in this, no need to involve even more people and two, even if Danny would be willing to come over, that would take him far too long. Time that Stiles didn't really have right now.

So even though there was a good chance there was something interesting saved on that laptop, he left it behind, not wanting to lose any more time than he already had. If he found some kind of proof, dad could get a warrant for that laptop anyway.

There wasn't any sort of attic so with the upper floor examined completely – and finding absolutely nothing, because naturally that was his shit luck – he went downstairs again, frustration brewing in him.

His only chance at finding real proof was behind the door with the lock and he had exactly, he pulled out his phone again, thirteen minutes to pick the lock and examine whatever was in there before his guaranteed hour would be over. Thirteen minutes wasn't a lot when he studied the heavy lock more carefully and realised to his great frustration that it would take him several minutes to figure out how to pick the lock – if he even managed to pick it.

Lydia had promised she'd try to keep Theo there for two hours, but he couldn't allow himself to count on that. When she called, he needed to get out of here immediately; she would kill him if he didn't, he was sure.

So how was he going to do this? Take a leap and try to pick the lock anyway? It was the only room in the house he hadn't searched yet and also the only one which had such a heavy lock on the door. That had to mean something, didn't it? Whatever was in there, Theo considered it serious enough to keep it locked up tightly.

Nodding to himself, he grabbed the locket and started working on it carefully with the pin, bending it into different shapes to see which one would fit the best. He hadn't found any keys laying around the house, so unless Theo had hidden them very well, he must kept all his keys with him at all times. Which was very fucking frustrating because that damn lock wasn't giving in, no matter what he tried.

Sweat started to prickle the back of his neck as the seconds ticked by and he still didn't get closer to picking the lock. He couldn't pick up any sounds from behind the door either, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Most rooms were soundproofed, because of their super hearing; most people weren't interested in knowing what the other person was doing or saying at all times in their home.

At this moment, though, Stiles cursed the soundproofing companies to hell and back. Without them, he might actually have been able to discern whether someone was stuck behind this door.

"Fuck this all to hell!" he snarled, letting the lock drop back loudly against the door when he released it. Running his hands through his hair, he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, forcing himself to take steady breaths. Losing it now wouldn't help him at all.

The lock refused to budge, though, so what was he going to do now? He couldn't leave this place without at least knowing what was behind this door. What if Cora was indeed there? He'd forever hate himself for having been so close, but not having been able to make any real difference for her.

What could he do, though? The lock remained firmly on the door, the pin didn't work, there were no keys inside the house …

How much time did he even have left? The numbers on his phone had his stomach doing a nasty flip: four minutes of the initial first hour.

_Shit._

If he only had four minutes left, what else could he do? Was there maybe another way to get into the room aside from the padlocked door? There was a staircase on one side and no other rooms on the other side of the door, so he couldn't bank on another door connecting this room with another one. So that option was out.

What else … His head shot up and he narrowed his eyes when he thought about the outside of the house. When he'd arrived here, he had made a large circle around the building, taking in where the windows where and how many doors led outside, just in case he was forced to make a quick getaway. He remembered seeing a small window near the ground, thinking it must lead to some kind of basement. Where exactly was that window again?

He closed his eyes and stood completely still, recalling the layout of the house. He'd been looking at the backdoor before he'd gone to the right of it. He'd spotted one window on the upper floor and when he'd looked down, he'd seen the smaller window at ground level. The window upstairs had turned out to be one in the study and the study was right –

_Above the room with the locked door._

His eyes snapped open and he practically raced out of the house, barely remembering to close the door behind him. He practically skidded on the ground when he rounded the corner, kicking up dirt, nary keeping himself from slipping and falling down.

_**There!** _

Panting, he stopped right in front of the small window and stared down at it; his heartbeat loud in his ears. He hadn't thought of looking inside when he'd been here earlier, figuring he would search the room when he got into the house. The one time he should have given in to his curiosity …

_Well, here goes nothing_ , he thought, his heart pounding as he lowered himself down, lying flat on his stomach. He crawled closer to the window and pressed his face against it, peering inside.

The room was rather dark, but the daylight creeping inside allowed him to see a couple of steps of a staircase – probably the one that led to the door – a sturdy table with a bunch of tools on top of it and …

A pair of brown eyes – darker than his own – met his before they flashed golden. They belonged to a figure mostly hidden in the shadows but he had no issues seeing the heavy shackles acting as a restraint.

Gold flashed again in fear and he felt faint all of a sudden.

_He'd found Cora._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: Does this count as a cliffhanger? I honestly don't know *throws hands up*
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Shit's about to go down in that one *hums*
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: I'm not entirely happy with the latter half of the chapter. It's like my brain had one thing in mind, but couldn't actually translate it decently onto paper =_= I hope it doesn't suck too badly!
> 
> Thank you for the kudos and the comments! They mean a lot to me!
> 
> Warnings: Hm, something akin to violence? I don't even know how to word it to be honest
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 16_

There was no way he could leave her behind. Not when he'd finally found her. How would he get to her, though? The staircase was obviously out of the question, considering he hadn't been able to pick the lock. That only left the window.

Apprehensively he eyed the glass and wondered just how thick it was. It looked big enough for him to fit through, but the thickness of the glass could be a deal breaker. He had to try, though. He'd come this far; he wasn't going to let some glass hold him back.

Glad he had got into the habit of wearing several layers if the weather allowed for it, he rose up on his knees and removed his hoodie, leaving him in a thin shirt. He wrapped it around his right arm before he shuffled backwards a bit. He studied the window again before he pulled back his right leg, adjusted his stance and then slammed his foot against the glass with all the strength he could put into the kick. A small crack was left in the wake of it.

It took three more forceful kicks before the glass finally gave away and shattered apart; the pieces clattering down into the room loudly. He winced and looked around before remembering that the house was rather secluded and the chances of someone having heard the noise were slim to none.

With his hoodie covered arm he pushed the remaining shards out of the window before wriggling through it and dropping down onto the floor, bending his knees to cushion his fall. He might heal on his own, yeah, but he didn't particularly fancy cutting himself open on sharp glass. He wasn't that good with blood.

"Are you an idiot?" Cora's voice was raspy, rough, as if she'd done nothing but scream for hours on end until her voice gave out.

The likelihood of that possibility made his skin crawl and he stood up, shrugging on his hoodie quickly. "Nice seeing you too," he huffed. "One would think you don't want to be rescued."

"Do you even realise who's behind this?" Her eyes were luminous, even with the lack of decent light.

He offered her a thin smile. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I'm very well aware of what kind of a sick bastard he actually is. Lydia and I worked that out a few days ago."

"Then why are you here?" she growled and winced, her hand jerking as if she wanted to rub over her throat before she realised she couldn't lower it that far.

"To get you out of here before he's back and to collect proof for my dad," he answered and approached her, studying the shackles intently.

"No, why are you here alone?" she asked and even in this situation with her in this position, she sounded exasperated with him. Good to know some things never changed. "If you and Lydia figured it out, why the hell did you come here alone? Why not bring back-up, you idiot?"

"Because I wasn't sure whether I would find you here," he replied impatiently, testing the strength of the shackles. "I caught your smell on him, but I couldn't know for sure whether he kept you here or somewhere else. I couldn't bring my dad or any of the deputies, because they need a warrant for that and to get that, they need proof. I don't know about you, but I doubt Theo's going to talk willingly."

"You're still a fucking idiot," she muttered, pursing her lips together. "If he finds you here and kills you, it's going to be your own damn fault."

"Yeah well, he's not going to find me here, because Lydia's keeping him occupied," he retorted, faking a cheerful tone. "Our plan is for me to find you and get you out of here and for her to keep Theo occupied for as long as possible."

"And how are you going to get me out of here?" She quirked an eyebrow. "He keeps the keys with him at all times."

This close to her, he could spot traces of dried blood across her right temple running down her cheek to her neck. He couldn't immediately see any other signs of injuries, but that didn't mean much.

"I'll figure something out," he said determined and took a step back.

The shackles on her arms were bolted into the wall behind her, while the ones around her legs – much shorter than the ones on the wall – pressed her limbs in a curled position flat against the floor.

He would either need to find a way to undo the two locks or break the shackles somehow. Considering how sturdy they looked like, he fervently hoped that he would have more success picking these locks than he had with the one on the door.

"If he comes back, you need to leave," she said, her mouth thinning as she watched him contemplate the locks. "I mean it, Stiles. No need for us both to be in deep shit."

"We're both going to leave. Together," he said firmly, shaking his head when she went to protest. "You're insane if you think I'm leaving you here behind. I prefer you alive instead of being the final piece to his ritual."

"Who's the insane one here?" she hissed, narrowing her eyes. "You arrived here alone! What kind of fucking idiot goes into the house of a killer without any back-up?"

"We can argue about semantics later," he said dismissively and pulled the hairpin out of his pocket. "First, let's get you out of here."

He decided to go for the lock near her arms first and began fiddling with it, twisting and turning the hairpin around in it, trying to find the right direction. He thought he might actually manage these locks with just a bit of time, but he had to be careful with how he held it in his hand. There was a sticky residue smeared along the sides of the lock, a residue he'd noticed was sticking to the shackles around Cora's wrists and ankles too, and the nauseating, sweet scent informed him it was some type of Wolfsbane.

That explained why, even though the locks were a bit less complicated than the one on the door, Cora hadn't been able to work herself free yet. Wolfsbane was poisonous for them, though one type was less lethal than the other one. He guessed Theo had gone for a type that would weaken Cora enough without actually killing her – at least not yet. Still, the quicker she was out of these shackles, the better. Even in the dim light he could see how red and burnt her wrists had become; the skin slowly being dissolved by the Wolfsbane.

He was almost there, just a few more twists, when buzzing in his pocket startled him and he cursed loudly, dropping the lock. He hissed when his thumb brushed along the Wolfsbane, his skin tingling before he hastily wiped it off on his jeans. The buzzing continued and he hastily pulled his phone out, dread filling him when Lydia's name glared back at him.

"Yeah?"

"He left," she said abruptly, agitation audible in her voice. "Stiles, I tried to keep him here for longer, but he said he couldn't, because he needed to go back home to prepare a surprise for you before your visit today. You need to leave now!"

"My visit?" he muttered confused. "We're not planning on meeting today."

"Well, either he just fobbed me off with that excuse or he somehow knows you're there!" she snapped, but her anger couldn't disguise the note of hysteria she was trying to supress. "Stiles, get out of there now!"

"I will, I promise, I'm nearly done; I just need a few more minutes and then Cora and I will be out of here," he promised and hastily stuck the hairpin back inside the lock.

"What? No! You promised! You need to leave now! Stiles, you can't - !"

He broke off the call and shoved his phone back into his pocket, focusing his attention back on the lock. There was a slight tremble in his fingers, his stomach churning uncomfortably, but he paid no mind to that. He still had time. He just need to remain calm, because panic wouldn't help them at all right now. Just stay calm, pick the lock, free Cora and get out of here.

"He's coming," Cora said calmly, as if she was talking about a friend and not her future killer. "You need to go now."

"Nope, I'm not leaving here without you," he said, jiggling the hairpin. "We still have time. I can do this."

"Stiles, just leave. You've got proof I'm here now; you can go to your dad with it and you can come back later," she sighed.

"Look," he briefly glanced down at her before looking at the lock again, "if he does somehow know I'm here – fuck, maybe I tripped an alarm or so – then we're screwed either way. He's not going to give me enough time to get my dad here. If he knows I'm here, the first thing he'll do is move you away and then we're back to square one."

_Even worse_ , he thought, his stomach flipping nauseatingly, _he'll do something to my dad as punishment for me trying to get you free._

"Like hell am I going to leave you here. We're going to get out of here and get you to safety. I swear that – aha!" he ended triumphantly, hearing the lock click when it finally unlocked and Cora's arms abruptly dropped down, the shackles falling off her. "See, one down, only one more - "

"Stiles, watch out!" she yelled alarmed.

He whipped around, caught sight of something flashing as it shot straight through the air, and jerked back instinctively. He wasn't fast enough and the thing cut his cheek, barely missing his eye before it slammed into the wall and dropped down. Searing hot pain exploded and he hissed, pressing his hand against the throbbing cut before pulling it back slightly.

Nausea filled him at the sight of blood smeared across his fingers. "Wow, he really doesn't trust anyone, huh?" he said faintly, his gaze going from his reddish fingers to the object lying on the floor next to his foot.

A small knife. Theo had somehow managed to link a trap to the lock and Stiles had triggered it by accident. Had Theo suspected that someone might discover his ritual after all and get into his house? He must have, because why else bother going through the trouble rigging a trap to a lock, just in case someone might try to free his victim?

There was a very thin line of black coating the blade of the knife and he swallowed, kicking it away in a corner.

"Stiles, are you okay?" Cora asked worriedly, her eyes widening a notch when she caught the cut on his face.

Keeping quiet about what might be possibly coating the knife, he forced a smile on his face and stepped over her legs to get to the other lock. "Yeah, just a cut. I'll be fine. Let's get you out of these now, okay? Any other traps I should know about?"

He had managed to avoid being impaled by this knife, but he didn't fancy trying out his luck twice in a short time. Especially because time was something they were steadily running out of now.

Slowly she shook her head, casting a nervous look around the room. "No, I – I don't think so. I didn't even know that trap was there," she admitted, chagrined with herself. "He must have done that when I was passed out."

"Hey, it's fine," he reassured her and got to work on the second lock. "You warned me on time anyway. Just, you know, keep a look out when I pick this lock, just in case he put up a second trap."

She nodded, her eyes gliding from one corner of the room to the other one constantly. She was exuding nervousness; the emotion strong enough to override the dark stench of pain and misery which had been clinging to her until now.

Being able to feel how nervous she was, did nothing to help his own nerves. The cut on his cheek was still throbbing; the burning sensation slowly spreading out. A headache was building up and he had to blink rapidly several times when his vision wavered a bit. He didn't know what kind of strain of Wolfsbane had been coating the knife and he wanted to get out of here before the poison had the chance to spread throughout his entire body.

Already his right cheek was a strange combination of throbbing pain and growing numbness; he had to get out of here before it could completely numb him.

Or worse.

* * *

Picking the last lock took much longer than he had wanted it to, because his sight was starting to become blurrier with each minute that passed and he had to pause several times because his hand trembled too much. Sweat was coating the back of his neck and he felt like he was running a fever; fire setting his whole body alight, the flames burying themselves between his skin and his muscles.

Finally, fuck knew how much time had passed already, the hairpin had been twisted in just the right way for the lock to give away and Cora was able to shove the shackles off her.

"Can you stand?" he asked, breathing a bit harsher when he straightened up and shoved the hairpin back into his pocket. God, how much time did they still have left? It couldn't be that much anymore.

"Y-yeah, I – I think I can," she said dubiously and slowly stood up. She'd barely risen up completely when her left knee buckled and gave out underneath her.

He was just in time to catch her around her waist before she would smack against the floor. "Is your leg or your foot broken?" he asked urgently, bringing her arm around his neck.

"No, it's just the Wolfsbane," she said through gritted teeth. "Are you feeling okay? You feel warmer than usual."

"I'm fine," he said flippantly and looked at the window, squinting at it.

He thought that if he gave her a boost, she would be able to make it through the window. The table could be pushed underneath it and he could use that to get himself out. They would need to move quickly now, though, because he had no idea how much time had passed since Lydia had called him. His phone had buzzed several times afterwards, but he'd been focusing on getting rid of the lock. She'd be so fucking pissed once he saw her again.

"All right, if I give you a boost, do you think you can make it through the window?"

"What about you?"

He waved at the table against the wall. "I'll use that one to get up there. Can you shift? I doubt we'll have much time anymore and our shifts will get us away from here quicker."

She nodded slowly. "I think so, yeah. I should be able to."

He really hoped so, because his car was still at Erica's place; he'd arrived on foot here, because there was no way for him to hide his Jeep anywhere nearby. His car wasn't exactly inconspicuous.

"Okay, come on, let's get you out of here," he muttered and helped her to the window.

He nearly stumbled over his own feet a couple of times when spikes of pain shot through his legs, but he just clenched his jaw together and forced his legs to keep moving. Taking a deep breath when they reached the window, he bent down and laced his hands together.

"Up you go," he said and grunted when she set her left foot in his hands.

She latched onto to the edge of the window and pushed herself up with his help. It didn't go really smoothly, because she was obviously weakened by the poison which had been smeared across the shackles. In fact she'd only been able to hoist herself up completely with her butt and legs still inside the room when the sound of a rapidly approaching car had them both freeze at the same time.

He felt her tense against his arm when the car stopped somewhere close by the house and then soft footsteps made their way to the front of the house.

_Theo was home._

"Stiles, he's here," she whispered and her voice shook with fear.

"I know, come on, just a bit more and you're through the window," he whispered, pushing her legs up. "You're almost there, don't freeze on me now!"

For once she listened to him and she wriggled through the gap, pulling her legs up. She disappeared from sight for a few seconds before her ashen white face popped back into the window. "Stiles, come on, now it's your turn!"

She reached out with her hands to grab him, but stopped when the sound of a door opening and closing reached them.

Theo was definitely inside the house now – and judging by the footsteps, making his way right to this room.

No doubt about it: somehow he knew Stiles was here – or at least that someone else besides Cora was currently inside the house. _Shit_.

Instead of grabbing her hands, he pushed them away and stepped back, waving her away. "Go now! Shift and run!"

"I can't leave you here!" she hissed panicked and her eyes glittered with something suspiciously akin to tears. "Stiles, come on! I can't leave you behind! Grab my hands!"

He shook his head, looking around quickly for anything he could use. "I'll be right behind you, I swear! Just go!"

When she still hesitated, he flashed his eyes at her and hissed, "Go! Otherwise me saving you will have been for nothing!"

She growled and flashed her eyes in return. "You better be right behind me, or I swear to god, Stilinski, I'm going to kill you myself!"

She pulled back and a few seconds later there was the noise of shifting bones before four paws thudded away. At the same time Stiles heard a key being turned into the lock up the stairs and he ducked down in the little alcove underneath the staircase, grabbing the only thing that could be used as a weapon.

His lungs were starting to hurt now, an unrelenting pressure against his chest making it harder to breathe, but he did his best to keep his breathing regular. He knew it wouldn't matter much. The moment that door opened, Theo would know where he was hiding. The only thing he could do was keep as still as possible and await the right moment to strike. He would only get one shot at this; he couldn't blow it.

He stilled when the door opened slowly and footsteps halted in the doorway.

"You know, I really should have expected you to figure it out," Theo said conversationally, lightly as if nothing was wrong. "The Sheriff's kid and one of the smartest in our year – no surprise that you would eventually figure it out."

He took a step down.

"And even right before I could complete the ritual." He sounded admiring. "Even managed to pick the locks, I see. This just confirms I made the right choice after all."

Stiles kept quiet and instead listened to the other man taking a couple of more steps down. He seemed to be toying with him, leisurely making his way down, because he thought he had him.

"I mean, of course I knew what I was doing when I chose you, but," he whistled in awe, "you really exceeded my expectations. You're really special, Stiles, and I can't wait to show you how great we'll be together."

Those words only made Stiles' stomach churn more violently. God, he prayed he wasn't about to get sick now.

"There's still that little matter of finishing the ritual, of course, but no worries. I'll tend to her once I've got you out of here," Theo continued and slowly descended the rest of the stairs. He sounded a bit apologetic when he went on, "I know you like her, but her sacrifice is necessary. You'll understand soon enough, I promise. Everything will make sense soon. Now why don't you come here, hm? I promise I won't be mad."

He took the last remaining step, halting at the bottom of the staircase. "You were just trying to do the good thing and I get that, I really do. But you're also confused about what the good thing actually is. I'll be more than happy to explain it to you in a bit, but let's get upstairs first, okay? It's more comfortable there than here." He chuckled softly.

"You like playing Hide and Seek, Stiles?" he asked softly, padding closer and closer. "I'm guessing you do, but we'll have to play it another time. I have to go after my little runaway first."

He halted a few feet away from the alcove and turned slowly around until his gaze landed on Stiles. His eyes glowed red and when he smiled, the hint of his fangs showed through.

"Looks like I found you, dear," he said in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah, look what I found, asshole," Stiles snapped and whipped the shackle straight at the Alpha.

The heavy metal slung through the air and delivered a firm blow against Theo's left temple. He howled when the Wolfsbane coating the shackles burnt his skin and scrabbled at his face, his claws sprouting into existence while he tried to rub the sticky paste off his face.

Making use of the man being momentarily distracted, Stiles sprinted past him, ignoring the way his muscles protested and pushing himself up the stairs. He almost tripped a couple of times but he managed to burst through the door right when a furious roar shook the foundations of the house.

"Oh Stiles, why did you have to do this? Now I have to punish you."

The dark tone had shivers running down Stiles' spine and he stumbled into the door of the room next to the basement. When footsteps rapidly made their way up the stairs, he shook his head in order to dispel the daze threatening to take a hold of him and pushed himself off the wall, propelling himself through the open front door.

He could barely see anymore, his vision becoming too blurry and a headache splitting his skull, but he still had enough presence of mind to shrug himself out of the hoodie when a hand snatched the back of it. He lost his balance when he stumbled over something and a burst of panic shot through him when he felt claws snatching at his wrist.

Without even consciously making the decision, he suddenly started shrinking, the world expanding in a rapid, almost frightening way around him, and then he was off, running like the devil himself was after him.

At this moment Theo might be the devil himself.

Only a couple of seconds later he became aware of something bigger than him running right after him and he forced his body through another burst of speed, disappearing into the forest. Every cell in his body was screaming; every breath, every pump of his heart sent the Wolfsbane further and further into his small body, the potion working quicker now that he was a lot smaller all of a sudden. His lungs burnt, his paws were on fire, his throat was filled with needles and shards, making every swallow painful, and he barely could see anything anymore, darkness creeping in on him.

He didn't have long anymore, he knew. Not with the way the potion was quickly getting pumped through his entire body, not with the giant panther quickly gaining ground on him, diminishing the distance between them. Bushes rustled and branches creaked and broke when the giant cat forced his way straight through them. His own smaller body had an easier time navigating through the forest, the ground offering just enough support for him to push himself off and speed away.

His smaller form was an advantage, but he was rapidly growing weaker. His entire mind was blank; no ideas forming, no plans springing into existence. The only thing he could think of was getting Theo as far away from Cora as possible. If he couldn't get her, he couldn't complete the ritual and she could tell the police what had happened. Without her, the Alpha had nothing and couldn't do anything.

He clung to that thought and he clung to the thought of his dad, of Scott, of Derek, of Lydia, of seeing all his friends and family again. He used that desire to propel him through the bushes, navigate around trees and jump over little creeks.

But his strides grew shorter, his jumps weaker, and his body couldn't handle running so fast anymore. He was shutting down, his organs feeling like they were being liquified, and he could barely get any air inside his lungs anymore. His paws trembled and threatened to buckle underneath him any moment now.

What could he do? Where could he go to?

He tripped over a tree root and rolled down the small hill, broken off branches and stones digging into him on his painful descent down. When he finally stopped, he stood up on shaking paws and coughed and hacked, suddenly having it too hard to breathe.

A black tar like substance splattered across the forest floor.

Blearily he stared at the shiny liquid and even with the daze threatening to take him under, he realised he was running out of time. Quickly. Either the poison would do him in or Theo would get to him. Neither option particularly appealed to him.

He didn't want to die, didn't want to leave his dad behind. His dad, who didn't even know where he was now, who had no clue his only son was currently being hunted down by the killer he'd been trying to catch for months now.

If he died here, he wouldn't see dad again. He wouldn't be able to joke around with Scott, wouldn't be able to challenge Lydia anymore. If he gave up, he would never find out whether he and Derek would have been good together.

He couldn't give up now. But he was getting so _tired_ …

Everything hurt, everything ached and screamed and he just wanted to lie down and rest. Instead he forced himself to continue, stumbled more than ran, and tried to find that one place where he could be safe.

* * *

Somehow he managed to stay out of Theo's reach for a while and when he blinked next, he was suddenly standing in a familiar field.

The tree trunk – _Nemeton_ , a voice whispered in his ears – seemed to tower above him and almost trance like he walked over to it, dragging his exhausted body to the trunk. He whined when he dropped down and panted, the pain worse than anything he'd ever felt before.

He just wanted to go home … He wanted his dad, he needed Derek, he wanted to see Scott and Lydia … He wanted to bicker with Isaac, game with Erica and Boyd. He wanted his pack.

He just wanted _home_.

"You put up one hell of a fight, but it's over now, Stiles." Theo stepped into the clearing, his eyes blood red and glinting viciously. "I'm going to have so much fun breaking you."

Stiles squeezed his eyes shut and whined brokenly, pressing himself even closer to the dead tree, as if it could protect him from the advancing Alpha. He … He needed someone to help him. He needed someone here before it was too late.

_**SOMEONE HELP ME!** _

The birds quietened, the leaves stopped rustling; everything became dead silent. Theo stopped walking and looked up with a frown, his head cocked to the left as if he was listening.

Then the earth exploded and a hellish white light filled the clearing as bright as the sunlight, blasting from seemingly nowhere.

Something wrapped around Stiles, something thin but strong, and squeezed him tightly, so tightly that all the air was slammed out of his chest, and he opened his jaw in a soundless scream.

A ferocious roar rebounded through the clearing, more furious growling joining. The earth trembled violently underneath him and a high pitched whistling sound tore through the air, suppressing all other sounds abruptly.

The pressure remained unrelenting and even though his mouth was wide open, he couldn't breathe.

He couldn't breathe and he couldn't move. _He was going to die here_.

He was going to die here; he was going to leave his dad alone and Derek and Lydia and –

_Darkness. Nothing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: Yeah, not particularly happy with the ending, but I couldn't figure out a way to make it better, so *throws hands up*
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: It's been a tiring week for me and I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but there's only so much rewriting I can do *sighs* I hope it isn't too bad *winces*
> 
> Thanks for the comments and the kudos!
> 
> Warnings: Hm, nothing in particular I think
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 17_

He was so close … So close to finding her. She couldn't be that far away from him anymore, he was sure. He just needed to search for a bit longer, track her scent as best as he could and then he would win their game. Easy peasy.

Creeping forwards, he halted behind one of the trees, studying the clearing carefully. A grin lit up his face when he spotted what he'd been looking for: a flash of dark hair, a shadow retreating behind the thick, old tree.

_Gotcha._

He sprinted towards the tree as fast as he could, not wanting to give her the time to slip away again. He'd finally found her and he wouldn't let her escape now! He swung himself around the tree and launched himself at her. Peals of bright laughter filled the air when she caught him swiftly around his waist, whirling him around before plopping him back down on the ground.

"I found you!" he said triumphantly, grabbing her elbows. Now that he'd found her, he didn't want to let her go.

"Yes, you did, sweetheart," she smiled and sank down, until she ended up sitting with her back against the ancient tree.

Ancient but still robust. He looked up in wonder, catching the sunlight filtering through the leaves, watching the multiple branches tower above them, forming a natural roof over their heads. This was a tree that would stand strong against anything that would try to take it down; one that would still be left standing when all else had long since perished.

"You did an amazing job with finding her, my love," Mom praised him; her eyes glittering as she tugged him softly down, running her fingers through his hair.

He preened at her, before the words actually registered and he became confused. "Mom?"

"I've always known you were destined for great things," she continued; still smiling, though her eyes darkened slightly. "The second you were born, kochanie, _I knew_."

"Mom? What are you saying?" He stared at her bewildered. Hadn't they just been playing Hide and Seek?

"I wish you could have discovered your strength in another way, but so be it." She grew sombre and his belly squeezed together in an uncomfortable way. "Ah, kochanie, the trials you're about to face … I wish I could be there for you."

"I don't understand," he said helplessly, shivering when the wind suddenly picked up, rustling the leaves above them violently.

When he looked up, he could no longer see the sun through the foliage; instead the little he could see of the sky was turning rapidly dark grey, announcing that a heavy storm was brewing.

"Mom, I think we should go home now," he said apprehensively and clambered upright, pulling at her wrist. "It looks like a storm is coming." He really didn't want to be caught in it; it looked _dangerous_.

She gazed up pensively. "So it is," she murmured, but didn't make any move to get up.

"Come on, mom, we need to go before it starts raining," he urged her, but still she wouldn't budge.

She just smiled at him, caressing the back of his hand before pulling it to her lips and brushing a kiss on it. "You need to go. My time has already passed, but yours is only just beginning, Mieczyslaw."

"I don't – I don't understand," he said helplessly; jarred by her use of his real name. No one had called him that in such a long time.

But wait, it couldn't have been such a long time, right? Mom was right here and she always used his real name. Why was it so weird then to hear his name?

"I know you don't, but you will soon," she promised and stroked his left cheek with her index finger, leaving a single fiery trail of heat behind. "Now it is time for you to go back."

He opened his mouth to protest, to call out, _to say something_ that would make her continue talking, but his surroundings suddenly started swirling in front of him fast, like he'd been thrown in a rollercoaster which was going at top speed, spinning him around and around and around, until he could only see colours dancing in front of his eyes.

He was going to be sick any second now, he just knew it. His stomach was churning, flipping upside down, twisting around and he was starting to feel sick, wondering when the hell everything was finally going to stop. He just wanted everything to stop; he just wanted to go back to his mom, go back to talking to her, being with her, because he hadn't seen her in such a long time and –

When he opened his eyes, he was staring at a white ceiling with some cracks running through it like a spider's web. He blinked and slowly breathed out, his fingers twitching against the stiff cloth they were resting on as he took stock of how he felt.

His skin felt pulled tight as if someone had tried to push it down against his bones as much as possible. His muscles felt wrung out, twisted and alarm bells went off in a panic in his head when he tried to lift his right hand. Wincing, he relaxed it again. All right, so moving around was out of the question for now.

There was a fierce headache pounding away in his skull and his throat felt like someone had shoved a bunch of rusty nails through it, whilst on fire. On top of that he felt queasy and he squeezed his eyes shut.

_Everything hurt_ and he had no clue what had happened.

A shocked gasp had him twisting his head around a bit until his neck protested and he had to clench his teeth in order not to shout out in pain. Melissa was standing in the doorway – oh, so he was in the hospital then? – and her eyes were wide as she slapped a hand in front of her mouth.

She was quick to regain her wits, though, and she snapped in the corridor, "John, he's awake!" before approaching him quickly and resting a hand against his forehead.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" she asked worriedly; her dark eyes sharply assessing him.

Before he could give a reply, his dad practically crashed into the room and she was barely quick enough to step aside, dad's arms slipping around him immediately, crushing him against his shoulder.

"You scared the hell out of me, Stiles!" Dad swore and the younger man could feel him trembling; his breathing harsh and uneven. "Don't ever do that to me again, I thought I'd lost you!"

"I'm sorry, dad," Stiles croaked out, ignoring the fire flaring up in his throat when he spoke. He forced one arm to reach up and curl around dad's shoulders, hugging him back as tightly as he could. "I – I couldn't leave her there. Is – is she okay?"

His fingers cramped up and dug into dad's shoulder when Cora's terrified face flashed past his eyes. He'd been so sure that he had led Theo away from her, but he couldn't actually remember much of what had happened after he'd pushed her through the window. He remembered Theo finding him and then chasing after him through the woods. Then there was a whole blank space in his mind and the only thing he could recall before losing consciousness was thinking he would never be able to breathe again, because everything had hurt for some reason.

What had happened? Where was Theo now? Had Cora managed to get safely away? God, he hoped so.

Melissa made a move as if to wave dad back, but he stepped away slightly, giving her room to examine Stiles more thoroughly. He kept a hand on Stiles' arm, though, clearly not wanting to relinquish his hold completely.

"She's okay," he reassured him. "She managed to go back home and tell us what she knew."

Stiles breathed out in relief, sagging back against his pillow. "Oh, thank god. I wasn't sure – I'm so glad she's safe."

"We all are," Dad murmured and then his eyes sharpened in that peculiar way that never failed to make Stiles squirm uneasily.

As it was, he could barely twitch without pain flashing up and he winced when Melissa briefly checked his eyes with a small flashlight.

"Mind telling me what on earth you were thinking, going into that house? You could have been killed!" Dad said, and his hand cramped around Stiles' arm. "Why didn't you come to me with your suspicions? For that matter, how come you started suspecting him? There was nothing that tied him to any of the victims."

Stiles took a deep breath; he had known dad would have questions, even if the confrontation had ended in a different way than this one, but that didn't mean he was looking forward to this particular conversation. He didn't need his dad to tell him what he had done had been beyond stupid and too dangerous, but he would get that scolding nevertheless.

A part of him was secretly glad that he was still alive to receive the scolding. He honestly hadn't thought he would survive the encounter with Theo.

"I know you need at least some kind of evidence to get a warrant to search the house, so I went there to check if I could find Cora there. I know I should have told you about my suspicions, but do you really think Theo would have just admitted to killing all those people and kidnapping Cora?" He peered up at his dad, who scowled at him.

"You should have called me the second you saw her in that basement, Stiles. That would have been more than proof enough to arrest him and search his house."

"I know, but I just couldn't leave her there! I thought I'd be able to get us out of there before he came back home." Stiles grimaced; the pain in his muscles reminding him that he had thought wrongly.

Dad pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something soundlessly before he said, "That still doesn't explain why you suspected him. What made you think he was behind all this, Stiles?"

"I …" Stiles hesitated, debating just how much he would tell.

It had all started with him realising that Theo had fucked with his injection and the resulting car crash his dad had been in, followed by the Alpha's threats. But he couldn't … He didn't want to tell his dad how close Theo had been to taking advantage of him. Theo being a murderer was one thing, but if dad found out he'd been planning on raping his son during his heat …

He couldn't care less about the bastard, but he didn't want his dad to go to prison because of him. There was no way he could tell his dad about that part. He didn't know where Theo was now, what even had happened in the clearing, but he had no trouble envisioning the Sheriff hunting the Alpha down and killing him for what he'd tried to do to his son. The absolute last thing he wanted was for his dad to land in prison because of something Theo had tried to do.

And it wasn't as if – nothing had happened. The doctor had said so. And he'd spent his second heat at Erica's place, so he'd been safe then.

No, he would keep that part to himself. He would tell his dad that he knew Theo had been behind the car crash somehow, but his dad would never know what else Theo had tried to do.

"I smelt Cora on him last time we met," he eventually admitted. "The scent wasn't that strong; I guess he'd taken a shower before meeting me, but it was enough to make me suspicious. I didn't want to alert him, so I acted like I hadn't smelt anything, but I needed some kind of proof, so I decided to go to his house to check whether she was there."

"You know that was too dangerous, son. I wish you'd told me," Dad said softly.

Melissa was now checking his reflexes and Stiles briefly wondered just what had happened to him for her to give him such a thorough examination.

"I know, but you needed proof before you could act," Stiles pointed out and licked his lips. "I didn't want to give Theo a chance to escape his punishment, all because of some legal bullshit. What – where is he now?"

Obviously he hadn't succeeded in killing him – if that had been Theo's plan to start with – but where was he now? Was he held at the precinct or had he somehow escaped? Ice filled his veins at that thought. If Theo had escaped, then …

Dad dragged the chair closer to the bed and finally sat down, though he still kept a hold of Stiles' arm. His face was completely blank when he said, "Why don't you tell me first what you can remember?"

That – didn't sound very reassuring. Swallowing, Stiles began, "I can remember telling Cora to start running once we heard Theo inside the house. I hid myself in the basement and grabbed one of the shackles to defend myself."

Approval flashed up briefly in dad's eyes.

"Once Theo got near enough, I slammed the shackle against his face and ran upstairs, but," he swallowed again and lifted up his hand weakly to point at the cut on his face, "I accidentally set off a trap when I got Cora free and a knife with some kind of poison on it cut me, so I couldn't run as fast as normal."

Melissa nodded and stopped her examination, pursing her lips. "You had a very strong strain of Wolfsbane in your blood, thanks to that cut," she told him; her claws briefly popping up – the only sign she was affected by what had happened to him. "It's no wonder your speed was limited. We had to flush out your entire system to get rid of it and that wasn't easy. You've been unconscious for two days. It's Friday now."

"Oh," he said in a small voice, sucking in his lower lip. He hadn't – he hadn't realised just how strong the Wolfsbane had been. He'd known it hadn't been any good news when he'd got cut, but … It seemed he'd been in more danger than he'd assumed.

That was something his dad appeared to realise too, because his face darkened for a moment before he murmured, "Can you remember anything else after that?"

"I know that I ran away from the house to the woods because Theo was chasing," _hunting me down_ , "after me. I remember getting sick and then suddenly I was at the clearing mom used to take me to and then …" He shook his head frustrated, his headache growing worse as he tried to recall anything else beyond that point. "I know that I suddenly was in a lot of pain, but … I can't remember anything else. What happened? How did you find me?"

Dad exchanged a look with Melissa. "The Hales heard you screaming for help," he answered after a pause. "Talia called me, but Peter, Derek and Laura rushed to your side. Erica and Boyd followed too. Derek got you out of there and the others went after Theo."

"Did they catch him?" Stiles' mouth went dry as the desert and his fingers dug into the sheets.

Dad clenched his jaw and looked away, breathing harshly through his nose before he composed himself and turned to face him again. "No, they didn't," he said curtly. "They chased him all the way to the edge of the Preserve, but he had someone waiting for him there in a car. They escaped and my men lost track of them thirty miles away from here."

It felt like all the air was slammed out of him and Stiles couldn't quite supress a whimper of fear. _Theo was still out there_. He was still free, staying out of reach for now, but he would come back. That, Stiles knew without a doubt. There was no way Theo would just let all of this go without a fight. He would come back, he would find Stiles and then …

His chin was grasped and pulled around so he was forced to look dad in his eyes. The older man's eyes were blazing with determination and he stated, "I've got men patrolling every possible entrance to the town. The moment Theo gets within a mile from here, we'll know and we'll be ready. He won't lay another finger on you, I swear."

Stiles blinked, only just now becoming aware that his vision was starting to become a bit blurry, and nodded, his fingers clutching at dad's wrist. He wanted to believe his dad, but if Theo had managed to land his dad in a car crash without even being physically there, how could he be so sure that they would catch him when he tried to go back to Beacon Hills?

"I swear, Stiles, he won't get anywhere near you," Dad said, his voice quiet but steadfast. "We'll get him and he'll pay for what he has done, I promise you."

"Yeah, okay," Stiles nodded and then regretted the action immediately when another stab of pain shot through his back into his skull. "If the Wolfsbane's out of my system, why does it still hurt so much?"

Melissa exchanged another glance with dad and both of them got a peculiar look on their faces; one which set Stiles on edge. What did they know?

"That's something that Deaton will be able to explain to you later," Dad said.

"What? No, I want to know now!" Stiles protested, narrowing his eyes.

Dad shook his head. "Sorry, son, but you'll have to wait for a bit. If I try to explain it, you'll only have more questions, and Deaton's the only one who can give you decent answers. Hell, kid, I don't even know half of it myself."

"You're not very reassuring now," Stiles accused him, wondering whether he should start panicking. He'd thought the worst was over, now that the Wolfsbane was out of his system and he was no longer in danger of whatever Theo had been planning, but his dad's evasiveness was making him worried again. Had something else happened to him during that time he'd been unconscious? Had Theo managed to do something before the Hales had arrived?

Panic was starting to bubble up, wrapping thick tendrils around his chest, but dad squeezed his arm, drawing his attention.

"I promise you, nothing bad is happening to you. You'll feel better soon, now that the Wolfsbane is out of your system," Dad said and there was no lie or deceit in his face when Stiles stared at him.

"Fine, I'll wait until Deaton comes then," he huffed, scowling half-heartedly.

As long as he wasn't in danger of dying of something, then he supposed he could wait until the enigmatic man showed up. He could only hope his answers would actually be clear this time, unlike all those other times he'd ask the druid something, only to get some vague, mysterious reply in return.

"Good," Dad smiled faintly and stood up. "Now there are some friends of you impatiently waiting in the hallway to see you, so I'll let them in while I'll go talk with some deputies. But Stiles, we will talk about that stupid stunt you pulled once you're out of here." With that warning hanging in the air, the Sheriff left.

"I'm glad you're awake, Stiles," Melissa murmured before she quirked an eyebrow. "But I very much prefer not seeing you again in this position, understood?"

"Yes, Mrs. McCall," he squeaked, knowing that dangerous glint in her eyes all too well. He supposed he should feel glad that he was still feeling like shit, because otherwise she would have given him a great scolding.

He didn't know which scolding was worse: his dad's or Melissa's.

"Good," she said resolutely before her face softened and she came up to stroke his hair back. "I'll tell your visitors they can see you for a little while, but only per two."

Scott and Lydia were the first ones to rush inside. Scott immediately hugged him tightly before Stiles' pained groan alerted him that he had to be a bit more careful and he pulled back with a hasty apology.

"Shit, Stiles, you scared the hell out of me!" Scott said in a strangled voice; his brown eyes wide and still with an edge of panic in them. "You dick, do you have any idea how worried you made us all?"

"I'm sorry, dude," Stiles said, squeezing his wrist quickly. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

Lydia crossed her arms. "You're not half as sorry as you'll be by the time I'm done with you when you get out of here," she hissed; her eyes sparking with anger. "You promised me you'd leave the second I called you and what did you do?!" Her voice gained a shrill tone at the end and he flinched.

"I know, I know, Lydia, and I'm really sorry, but I couldn't just leave her there!"

"You nearly died, Stiles." Her voice was now deadly quiet and she stood next to his bed frozen like a statue.

Only now did he realise her face was completely bare of make-up; her eyes slightly puffy looking as if she'd been crying for a while. That only made him feel worse and his guilt got kicked up a notch. Fuck, he'd really screwed up badly, hadn't he?

"I only agreed to your plan, because you'd promised me you would keep yourself safe!" she continued; trembling slightly. Roughly she wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. "And then you refuse to listen to me and you nearly died! I swear, Stilinski, next time you pull a stunt like this and die, I'll drag you back from the dead myself to end you!"

She whirled around and stalked out of the room; her heels stamping on the tiled floor and her red hair whipping around her.

"I pissed her off," Stiles grimaced, realising he would have to do a lot of grovelling to get back in her good graces.

"Can you blame her?" Scott stared at him troubled. "The doctors had to work for hours to get the Wolfsbane out of your system and mom said – she said that they weren't sure whether you would make it."

"I'm really sorry, Scott." Stiles looked down ashamed, staring at the sheets. "I didn't mean – I just couldn't leave her there, you know? Theo might have moved her to another place then and then we would never have found her on time. I had to do something."

"I get it, dude," Scott said quietly and sank down on his bed. "And I'm glad you got her out of there, but it was still very dangerous. Why didn't you ask me to join you? I could have helped." Hurt simmered in his voice.

"I didn't think of it," Stiles muttered, but in truth, he hadn't wanted to bring yet another friend of him in trouble. He'd only asked Lydia's help because he needed someone to distract Theo, and even that he'd done so reluctantly. If there had been a way to do everything on his own, he would have, because the last thing he'd ever wanted was for his friends to get hurt.

"Well, next time you're going to rescue someone, I'm coming with you, all right?" Scott grinned, and even though it was a weak one, Stiles returned it.

"You got it, dude," he said and lifted his fist.

Scott's grin grew a bit wider and they fist bumped. Stiles knew they were okay then. Scott had never been able to stay mad at him for long.

When Melissa came to retrieve her son, because their time together was up, Scott gave him a reassuring smile and said, "Lydia will come around, you know. She's just worried."

"Yeah, I know," Stiles sighed. "I didn't mean to make you all worry."

Scott nodded. "I'm sure she'll forgive you if you go shopping with her," he said lightly.

Stiles shuddered. "I'm not sure whether I want her forgiveness that much if that's the price," he joked and Scott left the hospital room laughing.

They both knew Stiles would gladly suffer through the torture of shopping if that meant earning Lydia's forgiveness. It was the least he could do after breaking his promise to her.

* * *

To his great surprise Cora and Laura visited him as well. Cora looked better already now that she was no longer subdued by the Wolfsbane and the shackles and she ranted at him for having been so fucking stupid. She would have personally brought him back to life somehow if Theo had managed to kill him, just so she could kill him herself.

Laura translated her ranting into "Thanks, Stiles, for saving my baby sister."

He seemed to have formed a tendency to surround himself with women who would gladly kill him themselves for being stupid enough to risk his life.

"I'm glad you're okay," he told the youngest Hale with a smile.

She huffed and crossed her arms, looking away. "Yeah well, you look like shit, loser," she muttered, pulling up her nose. "Next time listen to me when I tell you to get away and stop being such a hero."

"You're planning on getting kidnapped again?"

That earned him a vicious pinch in his thigh and he yelped, eyes watering with pain.

"You're an idiot, Stilinski!" she growled at him before storming out of the room.

"She doesn't want you to know this, but she was really worried about you," Laura said and for once every trace of amusement was gone. "She's been beside herself these past two days, scared you wouldn't wake up."

She paused and her eyes softened when she looked at him. "We were all worried," she amended and brushed her fingers against his cheek. "Don't scare us like that again, okay? You even freaked out Uncle Peter and that's saying something."

"I'm sorry." He'd lost count of how many times he'd said that already since waking up. "I just couldn't leave her there."

"We're really grateful that you saved her," she reassured him and quirked up the corners of her mouth in a faint smile. "Just – if something like this happens again, though I hope to the gods it won't, come to us. We'll help you. After all, we're not bound by police rules." A spark of humour lit up her eyes.

"I'll keep that in mind," he smiled.

"Good, get some rest now," she told him and slipped off the bed. "I heard you've got a talk with Deaton ahead of you and we all know you're going to need all your energy for that."

She left the room cackling, while he groaned.

* * *

He was left alone until lunch, although he was aware that someone was stationed right in front of his door. A deputy most likely, making sure that nobody unauthorised could enter his room.

He was slowly starting to feel better and right when he started contemplating whether he could ask Scott to bring him some actual decent food – the hospital had a strange view of what they considered 'decent food' – the door opened slowly.

Turning his head, he expected to see Melissa again or even his dad, and was therefore very surprised when Derek slipped inside the room. He nearly upended his tray in his haste to sit up a bit straighter, even if that move still made his muscles protest.

"Derek, hi!" he said startled.

"Hi," the older man said quietly and came to a stop a few feet away from the bed. Cocking his head to the left, he wondered, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been run over by a steamroller," Stiles answered bluntly and shrugged half-heartedly. "But I'm starting to feel a bit better. I, er, I heard you got me out of there. Thanks." His tray with the pudding cup lying on its side was quite interesting all of a sudden and he picked at the corner of his napkin.

"Thanks for saving my sister."

The words might have expressed gratitude, but his voice was brusque, bordering on snappish and when Stiles cautiously looked at him, Derek was standing there with his arms crossed, his muscles bulging, and a dark look on his face.

"You sound a bit … mad," Stiles said tentatively.

Derek visibly clenched his jaw and for a moment he looked ready to turn around again and leave. Then he shook his head sharply and took a step closer. "Yes, I'm mad. I'm mad because you could have died there, Stiles," he said in a low, dangerous voice. "You could have died there and we wouldn't have known about it until it was too late! Why the hell didn't you tell anyone what you were planning? I know you're not dumb, but that has to be one of the stupidest things you've ever done!"

"Lydia knew where I was!" Stiles countered, but even he knew his argument was weak. "I fucked up, I know, but I got Cora out of there, didn't I?"

"And you nearly died!" Derek snapped. "Do you really think that would have been better?"

"But I didn't! I'd think you would be happy to have your sister back!" Stiles snapped back, hackles raised, even if a part of him acknowledged that Derek had the right to be angry at him.

"Not if that meant you would have died instead!" Derek growled, his eyes flashing with anger. "Her life isn't worth more than yours! Why the hell didn't you come to us when you suspected Raeken? We could have helped you!"

"Because I …!" _didn't want Theo to paint a target on your back_ , he wanted to say but bit back the last part. "Because I wanted to keep you safe," he settled on instead.

Derek snorted. "You really think Raeken could have taken on several of us? If you thought we would be in danger, why the hell do you think you would have fared any better against him?"

"I survived," Stiles muttered petulantly, not appreciating the dig at his abilities. He knew he wasn't as muscled as Derek or some of the other Hales were, but that didn't mean he was _weak_.

"Barely," Derek said harshly. "If we'd been any later, you would have died from the Wolfsbane poisoning!"

"But you weren't later and I'm still here!" Stiles threw out his arms in a "Tada!" gesture.

The Beta growled angrily and started pacing back and forth agitatedly, muttering something darkly underneath his breath. Stiles was pretty sure they weren't favourable things about him. Pursing his lips, he looked away and stared out of the window, watching the sun slowly disappear behind the clouds. He had had enough scolding already about his reckless behaviour; he was sick of being berated by every person who came to visit him.

Yes, he'd been stupid! He realised that! But he would do it all over again if that meant saving Cora.

The chair creaked in protest when Derek dropped down heavily on it. "Look, I - …" He sounded uncomfortable and Stiles unwillingly turned to look at him.

Derek was staring at his hands, as if they held all the answers. "I – I panicked when I found you. You were bleeding black out of your mouth and your nose and I could barely hear your heartbeat anymore and – I thought I'd lost you, okay? I don't want to feel like that ever again." He sounded raw, the words dragged out of him by a hook, and when he lifted his head, Stiles' breath hitched at the pain he could see lurking in the depths of those hazel eyes.

"I could have lost you before I even had the chance to have you and …" He shook his head slowly. "It was hard seeing you like this."

"I'm sorry. I mean it, Derek. I never meant for all this to happen," Stiles said quietly and ignoring the ache still drumming in his bones, he reached out to grab Derek's hand. "I should have asked someone to join me, I know. I just didn't think about it. I thought I'd be able to get her out of there before he came back."

"Your problem has always been that you think too much," Derek huffed, but laced their fingers together nevertheless.

The sensation of those warm, strong fingers against his had his stomach flipping in an entirely different manner now and he licked his lips, all too aware of the way the other man's eyes tracked the movement. "Yeah, I guess that's true," he snorted, before saying softly, "I'm glad you found me."

"I'm glad you're here," Derek replied; his eyes soft now when they gazed at the Omega.

Comfortable silence fell between them and for once Stiles saw no reason to break that with his chatter. Instead he just revelled in Derek's presence near him and the fact that everything was okay for now at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: Well, at least Theo is out of the picture - for now *hums*
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Not much action in this chapter, but this one is necessary to move the story further, so bear with me please.
> 
> Thank you for the comments and the kudos! I'm so happy to see that this story has already reached 700 kudos!
> 
> Warnings: Panic attack (my apologies if it's inaccurate; I don't want to offend anyone with it; mostly some explanation about Elemental Foxes
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. Jeff Davis owns it.
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

_Chapter 18_

"You look better than when you were brought into the hospital, Mister Stilinski."

Deaton's calm, _very unexpected_ , voice had Stiles starting and flaying his arms around; his heart skipping a beat. "Can't you just knock?" he asked annoyed and sat up.

"I did." Deaton quirked an eyebrow and closed the door behind him. "You must have been distracted." His dark eyes flitted briefly to Stiles' and Derek's entwined hands.

Stiles flushed, but refused to release the werewolf's hand. If Derek was okay with holding hands in front of the druid, then he was more than okay with it.

"I've heard you have questions for me," Deaton went on, pausing at the end of the hospital bed. He carried with him a strong scent of the woods, as if he'd been walking around there the whole day.

"Dad said you're the only one who can answer them," Stiles said, eyeing him warily. Given how cryptic the older man had been in the past, he wasn't so sure whether he would get some actual answers now.

"I'll try at least," Deaton smiled. "What do you want to know?"

"Why am I still not healed?" Stiles demanded immediately, figuring he'd go for the most important question first. There was also the matter as to why he hadn't figured out sooner what kind of ritual Theo had been wanting to set up – he was a goddamn druid, shouldn't he have recognised this shit? – but the whole still not fully healed yet part was slightly more important now.

Two days should have been more than enough for him to heal completely, even if they had to flush out his entire system.

"That's a very interesting question," Deaton said mildly and his eyes lit up with interest. "Before I can answer that, I'll have to tell you something else first. Otherwise it won't make much sense."

Waving his free arm in the air, Stiles said, "Lay it on me. Whatever gets me a real answer."

Derek squeezed his hand briefly at the non-too subtle dig at the druid. Whatever, the man knew how annoying Stiles thought his evasiveness was. If he hadn't been offended by that in the past, he wouldn't be now.

"How much do you know about Elemental Foxes?"

That they were apparently connected to whatever the Nemeton was. He could hardly answer that, though, because that would mean admitting he'd been snooping around in the druid's files.

"Nothing," he said instead and that wasn't even a lie. He literally knew nothing about these supposed Elemental Foxes, except that apparently somehow the one in Beacon Hills had been connected to this Nemeton crap and their death had caused the decline of the Nemeton. That was all he knew – and even that little he'd only found out accidentally.

Deaton nodded thoughtfully, folding his hands together. "That does not surprise me. Not much is known about them after all."

_Then why the hell did you ask?_

He must have sensed Stiles' rapidly growing frustration because he continued, "Keep in mind that what I'm about to tell you is information mostly pulled out of old lore, tales which have been passed through throughout the centuries."

Stiles just nodded, resigning himself to a long winded conversation in which he still might not get all the answers he needed. Why had his dad thought Deaton would be the perfect guy to ask questions to? The man lived to be as mysterious as ever!

"The reason why not much is known about them is simply because Elemental Foxes are very _rare_ ," Deaton started, putting emphasis on the last word. "They are said to be descendants of the old gods themselves, though of course how much of that is true has been lost to history." He smiled faintly.

Stiles still didn't get what this little mythology titbit had to do with him, but he guessed he just had to keep waiting and hope Deaton would get to the point soon.

"Considering their link with the gods, it's not surprising that they are thought to be connected to spiritual sources here on earth," Deaton continued serenely. "Lore has it that Elemental Foxes tend to gravitate to spiritual sources and essentially bind with them. It's said that any village already lucky enough to have a spiritual source in their midst will be favoured by Lady Fortune herself should an Elemental Fox bind itself to the source."

"Look, this is all very interesting, but can you just please tell me what all that has to do with me?" Stiles said tersely; his fingers spasming around Derek's briefly. He just wanted to know why the hell he still felt like he'd been beaten up – which was admittedly a slight upgrade since this morning when he had felt like a steamroller had flattened him – and any mythology information could wait for now.

"Beacon Hills is a very old town."

Of course Deaton wouldn't be deterred from his tale, that would have been too easy. _Lovely._

"So old that it has its own spiritual source," he paused. "The Nemeton."

"That tree stump?" Stiles squinted at him. He was almost a hundred per cent sure Deaton was referring to the stump, but it wouldn't hurt to finally have his suspicions confirmed.

Next to him Derick shifted slightly as if he wanted to say something. When Stiles glanced at him, though, Derek's face was smooth and he was just staring at Deaton.

"The tree, yes," Deaton confirmed, and yes, he knew he'd been right! "The town was also very fortunate to have an Elemental Fox binding herself to the Nemeton."

"If you had an Elemental Fox in Beacon Hills, then you should know more about them, no?" Which would render the beginning of Deaton's explanation entirely moot and a waste of time.

"She was a very private person," Deaton replied calmly. "She wasn't very prone to giving a lot of information about her kind."

"Why is it considered lucky to have an Elemental Fox tied to a spiritual source?" Derek asked; his thumb rubbing slowly across Stiles' knuckles.

"The same reason why anyone mated to an Elemental Fox is considered to be incredibly fortunate: they provide a power boost to put it simply," Deaton answered; his eyes growing distant. "Spiritual sources in the past were used as an aid to raise wards around the town, meant to protect the inhabitants from possible attacks. If an Elemental Fox gave their power freely, the wards – and any other ritual that requested their aid – would be boosted tenfold. They would become practically impregnable. You would not be able to find a better defence than that."

Stiles was starting to get a bad feeling about this. "Who was this Elemental Fox? The one who tied herself to the Nemeton?"

Deaton's eyes seemed to burn straight into his skull when he replied softly, "Claudia Stilinski. Your mother."

He suddenly became aware of how loud his blood was rushing through his veins, the noise drowning out the beeping of the machines next to him and the hustle and bustle of the hospital outside his room disappeared, replacing by ringing. It was becoming harder to breathe, his lungs unable to expand properly, and he clawed at his chest, panicking when something blocked his throat, preventing him from inhaling deeply.

"Stiles, Stiles, look at me." Derek's commanding voice sounded far away, like Stiles was under water and all the sounds got absorbed by it.

Warm, strong hands grabbed his own, stopping him from scratching his chest even further, and then his right hand was pressed against a firm chest, the other still holding his free hand firmly.

Wildly he looked up, his breathing shallow, as he gasped and gasped for air, and then his eyes locked onto glowing golden ones and distantly he was aware of flashing his own, even as panic threatened to drown him further and breathing became even harder, and god, he was never going to be able to breathe again and he was going to suffocate here, he was going to die here, in this stupid hospital bed, right when he'd survived Theo and wouldn't that be one hell of a stupid idiotic way to go? God, what was wrong with him, why couldn't he just breathe, he knew he could breathe, nothing was pressing down on his chest, but his lungs were being stubborn bastards and nothing was cooperating and, and –

"You're okay, you're safe. You're with me, you're okay, everything is fine," Derek was saying, keeping his eyes locked onto the Omega's. "Breathe with me, I know you can do it. One, two, three, four, five, six, inhale and one, two, three, four, five, six, exhale. Just copy what I do, I know you can do it. One, two, three, four, five, six, inhale and one, two, three, four, five, six, exhale."

He couldn't focus at first. Derek's words washed over him, not registering in his brain, until something made a click somehow and then he slowly started to match Derek's breathing, counting with him silently, inhaling and exhaling when he did. It wasn't an instant fix. It took a long time to come down from – what he embarrassingly realised was – a panic attack. He hadn't had those in years – not since the two years after his mother had died.

_God, they fucking sucked._

Deaton was still standing at the foot end of his bed; his face unreadable when Stiles raised his head. He was too sweaty and tired, and drained, but he needed to know.

"The Nemeton looks like that because of my mom?" His voice croaked, broke in the middle and he gulped down the glass of water Derek offered him.

"When she passed away, the Nemeton fell in mourning," Deaton murmured; a vague hint of sympathy lurking in his voice. "It's what happens when a spiritual source like it is tied to someone. The source cannot die, but they can mourn and take years to restore themselves to their full strength."

"Did – does my dad know? That mom – that mom was an Elemental Fox?" Why had he never told him? In all those years … He'd assumed for all those years that mom had been a regular fox, just like him. He'd thought she was special, yes, but in the way every child thought their mom was amazing and special and perfect.

He'd never thought she would be a _rare breed_.

"That I do not know for certain," Deaton said neutrally. "As I mentioned before, your mother was a very private person. It is quite possible that your father never knew her true nature."

"What does that – am I … Am I the same?" He could barely get the words out of his mouth; they wanted to remain stuck in his throat as though if he didn't speak them aloud, he wouldn't need to face reality.

The reality that he might be a …

"You were found underneath the Nemeton. Considering Mister Raeken's address and the path you must have travelled in a bid to get away from him, it should have been impossible for you to find yourself anywhere near the Nemeton," Deaton said. "Yet you did. What do you make of that yourself, Mister Stilinski?"

Stiles stared at him, his heart thudding fast, threatening to jump straight out of his chest, and his stomach turned. "I think I'm going to be sick," he said faintly.

Derek was just in time to shove a bucket underneath him before his stomach started revolting viciously.

* * *

_He'd brought the Nemeton back to life._

After he'd finished throwing up, Deaton had finished his explanation. The Nemeton had been mourning for years, only able to sustain the forest and the wards with the help of Deaton.

But then Stiles had sent out a call for help and the Nemeton had responded, reacting to the one Elemental Fox nobody had realised was in their midst. The tree had flourished, springing back to life, eagerly bonding itself to the Elemental Fox when he had fallen down exhausted and near death against its roots.

It had lost one Elemental Fox – it wouldn't allow anything else to take away the second one. So, as Stiles' call had also reached the Hales, the Nemeton had come back to life to defend him against Theo. Its roots had wrapped around him, keeping him safe from the prowling panther; that had been the suffocating sensation he'd experienced before passing out.

Theo had been chased down by both furious werewolves and the Nemeton itself. The forest had reacted to the newly awakened source, trying to trip Theo and trap him. Both parties had nearly succeeded, but Theo had managed to stumble out of the woods just in time for his mysterious partner to pick him up in a car.

The Nemeton hadn't wanted to release Stiles at first apparently. The roots had been wrapped tightly around him and it had only been when Talia had appeared as well, touching the Nemeton, that the tree had relinquished its hold on the fox, allowing Derek to rush him to the hospital.

The Nemeton was the reason why Theo had come here. Presumably he'd wanted to take control over it with the ritual, which would have granted him immeasurable power, allowing him to do whatever he wanted.

"What did he need me for then? If he just wanted the Nemeton, there was no reason for him to go after me," Stiles had said, having reeled on the edge of another panic attack.

"While almost nobody knew Claudia was an Elemental Fox, that does not mean nobody could have done some research," Deaton had said calmly, although he'd also sounded a tad condescending which had made Stiles bristle offended. "All surrounding towns know of the Nemeton and how it had been flourishing for years until it had abruptly fell in mourning. If one thought to check the obituaries around that time, they might have reached the reasonable conclusion that your mother might have had some sort of link to it. Would they have known for sure she was an Elemental Fox? That I doubt, because there are quite some people who can form a bond with a spiritual source. An Elemental Fox is but one of them."

"But why did he come after me? Even if he knew my mom had something to do with it, he couldn't have known that I – that I would be the same as she." Hell, he hadn't even known he was apparently an Elemental Fox! How the fuck could Theo have known?

"It stands to reason that you might have inherited what made her special." Deaton had studied him thoughtfully. "Not an odd guess to make. As I mentioned before: Elemental Foxes are considered to spread fortune to those around them. One who's fortunate enough to mate with them, would find themselves considerably more powerful. If you can count a spiritual source underneath your control as well … I shudder to think what he might have been planning to do with all that power."

He'd been nothing but a tool to gather more power. Theo hadn't gone after him because he liked him or even because he just wanted to screw over a Hale. No, he'd singled out Stiles and had gone after him, because Stiles was a key to more power.

It wasn't as if he'd been love with Theo, had never even liked him even when he hadn't been aware yet that he'd been the serial killer all along. But it made him feel sick to the core to know that he'd been _used_ all just for a power boost. Like this was just a videogame Theo had been playing and Stiles had been one of those tools that could give him a power up.

It had never been about him, but about _what he was_.

The worst thing was that he hadn't even been aware he was considered something special!

Knowing what he knew now, it made sense to him why his mom had been so fond of that clearing with the big tree. Because the tree had still been alive back then, he recalled now with perfect clarity. The tree had been a stump for so long, he'd forgotten that once upon a time, a time when his mom had still been alive and well, the stump had been a huge, flourishing tree, with branches so long, they swayed across the ground and hid them from view whenever they had settled themselves against the sturdy, thick trunk.

Then his mom had died and the tree had withered and died seemingly overnight, leaving nothing but a stump behind and dead, rotten leaves.

The tree stump was no longer there now.

Instead he stood in front of a magnificent, imposing tree, which towered high above all the other ones, making them look like insignificant dwarves. The trunk was thrice as wide as him and they would need at least three to four people to be able to form a complete circle around it. The leaves were a bright green and narrow like blades, attached to long, thick branches. Some of those were long enough to brush their tips across the forest floor, stirring up grass and leaves.

As he stood there, staring at it, he felt it calling out to him, cooing reassuringly. Its branches gently strained forwards as if they wanted to engulf him in an embrace, welcoming him back after so long. He could feel its power thrumming all around him, from deep within the earth, to high above the sky; everything to its deepest core singing with it.

The Nemeton was alive once more and it wanted everyone to know.

"I did that," he said quietly.

The resurgence of the Nemeton was the reason why he'd been still in pain when he'd woken up at the hospital. His body had already been fighting the poison and had been helpless to stop the Nemeton from sapping his energy, using it to restore itself. It hadn't taken everything, because that would have meant killing Stiles, but it'd taken enough for his healing to slow down significantly, his body struggling to cope with the sudden loss of energy.

A stick cracked in two behind him when the other one drew closer.

"You did," Derek agreed softly and came to stand next to him, studying the Nemeton warily.

"Did your mom know? About my mom?" Stiles kept his eyes fixed on the tree in front of him, even when he felt the Beta's gaze momentarily resting on him.

"She admitted to knowing that there was an Elemental Fox living here, but she didn't know who it was," Derek replied. "She agreed to keep your identity a secret from the town, just like Claudia's secret was kept safe."

"And the rest of your family?" Stiles ignored the part about keeping his identity safe; it didn't matter to him. Not at this point anyway. Not when he was still reeling from everything he'd learnt the past couple of days. He'd freak out about it later when he had time to process it probably. One thing at a time now.

"We didn't know." Derek shook his head before he paused and added wryly, "Well, Peter might have. It wouldn't surprise me, given how much he relishes knowing things others don't."

Stiles nodded. That made sense. Peter seemed like that type of guy. "My dad didn't know," he said, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Told me that he'd always thought there was something different about mom, but he just figured that was because she was the love of his life and therefore would be different from everyone else. I don't know who's freaking out more about this to be honest: him or me." He breathed out slowly and licked his lips.

Dad hadn't wanted to let him go to the clearing, insisting he still needed to rest. But Stiles had been going crazy cooped up in the house after several days of being stuck in the hospital and only his promise that someone would accompany him had made dad relent. Dad would probably have offered to join him, but he was engaged in a battle with the council as they tried to decide what to do with Stiles now that his supposed partner had fled the town.

Apparently having a serial killer as a Courting Partner and being almost killed by him was not grounds for immediate termination of the Courting, imagine that. Stiles had always known the council was a bunch of backwards fucktards, but at the moment he was glad to let his dad fight his battles for him.

He just needed some time away from all the Courting bullshit, didn't want to think about Theo and what was going to happen now just yet.

So he'd wanted to leave the house and had been about to call Scott, asking him whether he was up to a stroll in the woods, when Derek had rung the doorbell, offering Stiles another choice as companion. The choice had been rather easy in the end.

"What are you thinking?" Derek asked quietly, turning to face him.

"Just … How fucked up everything is now, I guess." Stiles shrugged and wearily dragged a hand through his hair. "I found out I'm apparently a rare breed and that's the reason why Theo decided to go after me. Like I'm nothing but a tool, some kind of power boost. I never liked him, but it would have been one thing if he'd gone after me because he actually liked me. To find out that I was just something he could use to become more powerful …" he trailed off and swallowed, blinking rapidly.

"And now I somehow brought this stump back to life which turns out to be some kind of powerful magical artifice and god knows what's going to happen next. My mom knew what she was doing, but I don't and I've got nobody to ask anymore." His voice grew thick at the end and he took a shuddering breath, wiping the back of his hand roughly underneath his nose.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, Derek. I really don't know."

He'd always been that guy who had a plan A, a plan B if something went awry, then a plan C if plan B somehow didn't work out and so on. He was a planner, he knew things, he'd always known what to do, even if he'd been uncertain at times.

He knew nothing anymore. He had no clue what he was going to do now. Now that he was apparently an Elemental Fox and the Nemeton had bounded to him, what was he supposed to do? With Theo still running around freely somewhere, what could he do?

For the first time in his life he had no idea what to do, not even the slightest inkling, and _that scared him._

Arms wrapped around him, strong muscled ones, not the spidery long ones still longingly reaching out to him. Derek pulled him close, brushed his nose against Stiles' temple and he started slowly rubbing up and down over Stiles' back.

"You take it one day at a time. And we'll be there to help you, every step of the way," Derek murmured.

Stiles closed his eyes when he felt lips pressing against his temple now, a searing brand against his skin.

" _I'_ ll be there for you every step of the way."

The promise hung between them, binding them, while the Nemeton's power buzzed and hummed around him, giving a silent promise of its own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN2: I hope it wasn't too bad! 
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa

**Author's Note:**

> AN2: I guess the concept of the Fertility Run has already been used quite a lot before, but I'm hoping my take on this particular trope will still interest you :)
> 
> Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
> 
> I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
> 
> Cuddles
> 
> Melissa


End file.
